Piecing together a monologue

[nodaybut2day1205]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 11:04am

I'm thinking about doing a monologue from A Raisin In The Sun. Beneatha has a pretty large chunk of speech herself that I was going to use, but it's interrupted in a few places by Asagai, and I know that it's possible to just eliminate those lines....however, his lines aren't just "yes, go on.." sort of lines- she actually responds to them. Here's an example:

Beneatha: It used to matter. I used to care. I mean about people and how their bodies hurt...
Asagai: And you've stopped caring?
Beneatha: Yes- I think so.
Asagai: Why?
Beneatha: Because it doesn't seem deep enough, close enough to the truth.

Asasai's second line is an easy one to work around, but what about the first one? Should I change my line to incorporate the fact that I've stopped caring, or is that totally out of the question?

[jaesdare]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 5:58pm

uummmmm do you know the context of a raisin in the sun. i just realized i'm always the one on BWW who brings up this kind of thing, but it's because i don't know if people are aware sometimes? anyways, if you're disregarding the context and still decide to do it.
You could just change her lines to " ...and how their bodies hurt...and i've stopped caring because it doesn't seem deep enough, close enough to the truth." generally you're not really supposed to change dialogue, especially if it's real dialogue not the typical, as you said "uh huh, yes" blah blah.

good luck

[I'mseeingbraille57]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 11:22pm

Salvage what you can, cut the rest, personally I'd cut it to It used to matter. I used to care. I mean about people and how their bodies hurt. It doesn't seem deep enough, close enough to the truth.


Is this the Me monologue or the life is a circle monologue, or maybe it's neither, either way it's a damn good play, tis a shame Loraine Hansberry died before she could crank out some more plays.

[nodaybut2day1205]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 6:14pm

Thanks for your opinions. It's the Me monologue. It's a really great play, I just wish there was an easier way to get a 2 minute monologue out of it!

Jaesdare, I know the play, but I don't really get what you're saying about taking it out of context. How/why would you take it out of context of the play?

[jaesdare]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 11:01pm

no i meant... if you know that the play is about the black struggle in america? The central idea of the play is concerned with combating the myth of black contentment in a white racist society. ok just wanted to see if you knew, because, i don't mean to be rude or anything, but from your pics you don't really look black.

[nodaybut2day1205]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 3:53pm

No lol, I'm pretty much as white as they come. But this particular part of the play doesn't have any direct references to my heritage.

[jaesdare]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 11:09pm

uh oh...but the whole play does have to do with it, and like you said before you can't really take the monologue out of context. if you're just working on this for fun or for a class or something, then that's cool. but if you're planning on doing it for an audition, I would highly consider not doing it because 1) it's a very very well known play, which most directors would know the context of 2) it would kind of make it seem like you didn't read the play, or else you would know that it's supposed to be a black girl. ummmmm there are hundreds of other monologues that you could do properly try:
painting churches, breakfast with elvis, homebound. try to find some that are not race specific, because that doesn't really work- especially with Raisin in the Sun where race is crucial to the plot. i'm not trying to be rude at all, just to keep you perhaps from an embarrassing, awkward situation.
good luck

[nodaybut2day1205]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 12:04pm

I'd like to hear some other people's opinions I guess, because I don't see anything wrong with it. It shouldn't be funny or awkward in an audition situation because I don't mention anything having to do with my race. I wouldn't have to take it out of context of the play at all either. Here's the monologue:

Me?...Me?...Me I'm nothing...Me. When I was very small...we used to take our sleds out in the wintertime and the only hills we had were the ice-covered stone steps of some houses down the street. And we used to fill them in with snow and make them smooth and slide down them all day...and it was very dangerous you know...far too steep...and sure enough one day a kid named Rufus came down too fast and hit and sidewalk...and we saw his face just split open right there in front of us...And I remember standing there looking at his bloody open face thinking that was the end of Rufus. But the ambulance came and they took him to the hospital and they fixed the broken bones and they sewed it all up...and the next time I saw Rufus he just had a little line down the middle of his face...I never got over that.... That that was what one person could do for another, fix him up- sew up the problem, make him all right again. That was the most marvelous thing in the world...I wanted to do that. I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that a human being could do. Fix up the sick, you know- and make them whole again. This was truly being God.... I wanted to cure. It used to be so important to me. I wanted to cure. It used to matter. I used to care. I mean about people and how their bodies hurt.... It doesn't seem close enough, deep enough to the truth.

Anyone else have an opinion?

[raphael06]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 2:26pm

What are you auditioning for? If it is anything "big" I would avoide this monologue because you are white and A RAISIN IN THE SUN is extremely well known.

[nodaybut2day1205]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 6:21pm

It's a theatre camp. I just don't see how my race affects anything in this situation, because the monologue has nothing to do with it. It's like singing "The Oldest Profession" from The Life for an audition. She's black too.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 8:04pm

Even if you're not saying "Hello, here I am, I am black", the fact remains that the character, who will almost certainly be known by the auditioners, is black. They will know that you are doing a monologue that comes from a character whose description you do not meet, and it is always to your advantage to show them what you could actually do in performance.

[SarahBeth]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 9:11pm

A Raisin in the Sun is one of the most well known plays out there. A white girl doing a monologue from it just doesn't fit and they'll know it. If it was a lesser known play that they wouldn't know it's different, but this play is really popular.

[jaesdare]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:44pm

"It's like singing "The Oldest Profession" from The Life for an audition. She's black too."

Ok this is getting kind of funny/ ridiculous. Dude, "the oldest profession" can be sung by anyone, they happened to have cast a black lady (lillias white) as the character, but if could have been played by someone of any race because the musical and character have nothing to do with racism or any kind of race struggle. what you aren't understanding dude is that A Raisin In the Sun, has been the symbol for the black struggle in America and the most famous play portraying this. Some people might even take it offensively if you do it because, they might think, what does a white girl know about racism, and having dreams that are impossible to reach because of the color of her skin. In the monologue she says, "we used to take our sleds out in the wintertime and the only hills we had were the ice-covered stone steps of some houses down the street"- when she says the only hills we had- she means the black kids.
some people might say that this is acting, doing things you can't relate to yadayada, but this is an entirely different beast.
WHOA I didn't mean for this to get out of hand, I just hope you understand why you really shouldn't do this monologue and I'm in the middle of studying the Civil Rights movement right now so this is resonating pretty deeply. uh if you do consider getting a new monologue, good luck :)

[nodaybut2day1205]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 8:30pm

I hate to be funny/ridiculous and everything, but thanks for your advice, and I'll be sticking with this monologue for now. Hopefully nobody will get offended.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 11:10pm

It is kinda like a guy doing one of Nora's monologues from A Doll's House. That's a play about a woman's struggle. Everyone knows the play. Everyone knows Nora is a woman. If a man did it, people would spend too much time being confused/offended/ammused to actually evaluate the performance from a performance standpoint.

[Naarame]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 11:20pm

Very well written Jaesdare, I wholeheartedly agree with all of your posts. As an adjudicator, I would feel offended and confused by your choice of monologue. If I were watching your audition, I would not be able to concentrate on your acting becuase I would be wondering how you felt you had the right to use a monologue from "A Raisin In The Sun", a play that so clearly exemplifies the black struggle in America. If you are still unconvinced, fine. But try to convince an auditor that you searched for an "appropriate" monologue, worked on the monologue, that you found the given circumstances, that you understood the context, and that you were able to feel exactly how Beneatha felt at this point in the play.

To use Jaesdare's example once again,

""we used to take our sleds out in the wintertime and the only hills we had were the ice-covered stone steps of some houses down the street"- when she says the only hills we had- she means the black kids."
- Subtext: Because of segregation, the only place the black children had to sled were the ice covered steps.
This is a small piece of subtext that if used by the right person would resonate properly and bring a mediocre monologue to a truly moving level of acting. No matter what level of an actress you are, this monologue with its very specific subtext is simply not for you. If you pick a monologue better suited to you I'm sure you could be much more successful with it than this monologue that you have your heart set on.

I hope you decide to read other plays and learn what monologues are appropriate for you to use. Good luck with your audition, and remember to have fun! Be yourself!

[Blues Head]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:34pm

everyone needs to stop being theatre snobs. If the girl is doing a monologue she obviously knows the play. From the looks of it her monologue makes no racial references. I know may people in the industry who would in no means feel confused, annoyed, or any other at her selection.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 1:02am

blues head, we're not being theatre snobs...

some things just are not ideal choices, and we're putting our reasons out there. and the monologue does include a racial suggestion in the sledding line. sure, it never says, "we black kids only had ..." but that is the implication.