Monologue of the Month for Kids

Tips for preparing a monologue:

 

  • Imagine the person you're speaking to. If you're supposed to be speaking to the audience, imagine who they are--friends? enemies? the doorman?

  • Imagine where you are and the things that are around you.

  • Create a set by using real objects that are handy--chairs, benches, fake tree, etc.

  • You can use real objects for props, too--book, wallet, football, etc.

  • Be expressive--get mad or happy or sad or just have some attitude as you perform your monologue.

  • Movement & Gestures--use them. Don't just stand still while doing a monologue.

  • If there are stage directions—in parenthesis—in the monologue, use them or come up with your own. They're just suggestions. If a monologue has ellipses (three dots in a row), act as if you’re listening to someone else responding or speaking to you. But those ellipses might also just mean there's a slight pause. Read through the monologue and see if you're listening to someone or just pausing for effect.

  • Break a leg! (That's theater talk for "good luck." It's bad luck to say "good luck" in the theater so you say "Break a leg!")

 

HE CALLED ME A BUTT

He called me a butt. What am I supposed to do with that? Then several other kids called me a butt. The teacher said, “Ignore it.” My mom said, “Don’t listen to them.” I really wanted to hit the first kid. But then who would get in the most trouble? Me! Either I’d win the fight, go to the office and get suspended or I’d lose the fight, end up with bruises, still have to go to the office and get suspended. My dad told me that humor might help. I decided to give it a try. The next day, the same kid called me a butt. So I said, “Watch out! I’m about to blow!” and I plopped down on the fart cushion I had secretly brought to class. The kids all laughed for 10 minutes! They thought I was so funny. My teacher even smiled as she wrote a note to send me to the office for “inappropriate behavior.” I smiled all the way there.