Claude Watson Secondary Arts Program EARL HAIG SECONDARY SCHOOL DRAMA Audition Guideline For students entering Grades 9 to 11 The audition is divided into three parts: Part 1 Class Activity DAY OF THE AUDITION All students will take part in a workshop and group performance. Students will also be given a written exercise, where formal structure and complexity of thinking will be evaluated. The writing will be a creative piece from the point of view of the character from your monologue. You will be asked to read your writing out loud to the panel. Part 2 Solo PRIOR AND DAY OF THE AUDITION Please memorize and stage one of the monologues in this package. Be inventive, imaginative and make the monologue your own. During the audition, expect to be given some coaching to see how well you take direction. We recommend reading and understanding the play from which the monologue has been taken. Play titles and information are at the top of each monologue. Plays can be found at The Toronto Public Library, Playwrights Guild of Canada and Amazon. Read over the monologues provided and pick the one that interests you the most. Memorize it exactly. Being confident in your lines is very important. Check the pronunciation of any words that are unfamiliar to you. Practice saying your monologue in different ways. Imagine who your character is speaking to. Make choices about who your character is and why they are saying this piece. Portray your character and emotions through your body and your voice. Costumes and props are not required. Part 3 Interview DAY OF THE AUDITION An interview will take place asking about your background, goals and interests inside and outside of drama. Your questions are encouraged at that time. This is our opportunity to get to know you better! Required Dress Please wear suitable clothing such as a tracksuit and soft shoes. Be prepared to participate in interactive theatre exercises. Adjudicators The adjudicating teams consist of teachers and professional artists. Auditions are private. The decision of the adjudicating team is final.
AUDITION MONOLOGUES - FEMALE From Transit of Venus by Maureen Hunter Playwrights Guild of Canada The play is based on the life of Guillaume Le Gentil (1725-1792) a gentleman astronomer. He leaves Celeste, the girl who loves him, to embark on an expedition. Celeste is telling him how much she loves him and admires his work. CELESTE No. I don t do it, you see. I don t do any of it. I don t baste, I don t sew, I don t knit, I don t mend, I don t darn, I don t tat, I don t embroider and I do not do petti-point! I do, however, read. And because I can read, I can learn. Oh, I can t actually travel you have the advantage of me there - but I can read about travel, I can dream about it, I can imagine what it s like. I ve been everywhere with you. You don t know it, but I have. I know every inch of sea you ve sailed, every island you ve set foot on. I know how the rains come sweeping across the mountains of Ile de France, and how the island itself lies curled in the sea like an oyster. I know about the doldrums and trade winds and tides. Tides! Tides are so mysterious. We ve known about them since the days of Alexander, yet there s so much we don t know. Why, for instance are there two high tides and two low tides every day in some places, and only one in others? Why the tides of Saint Malo rise almost ten meters and only a fraction of that on the islands you visited? They do; did you know that? I want to know why. I want to know everything there is to know before I die. This was your gift to me, you see? You pointed me at the sky and said, look! And when I looked, what did I see? Mirrors! Mirrors reflecting mirrors reflecting mirrors, on and on to infinity. So much to know, so much to learn, so much to wonder about. Once you begin to wonder, it s impossible, isn t it inconceivable! to abandon that sense of wonder for anything as straight-forward and mundane as a needle and a piece of thread.
From Moon People by Aviva Ravel, Playwrights Canada Press An adopted teenager confronts her birth mother and through their mutual regret, pain, anger and love the two women reach an understanding of one another. HARRIET About a year ago, I go so low, lyin in the gutter completely messed up. My Mom said I could only go up cause I was as low as you can get. The only worse you can get is dead. All of a sudden, I didn t want to die. I mean stuck down in the earth, and never see my crazy squirrels, and the Moon-People or hear my music. Anyhow, I told my Mom I gotta know who my mother is. She looked so upset; I patted her on the bum and said she was my real mother. I only meant the woman who gave birth to me cause not knowing was makin me nervous. So she said she d help me find you. She wrote a million letters, went to hospitals, and talked to the Agency people all over the place. It was like being a detective but much harder, cause no one wants to tell you nothin. Anyhow, she found you so here I am. She wanted to come with me. She thought it d be hard for me to do it alone. But I said I gotta do it myself. She gave me lots of money for the train ticket and the hotel we live about 600 miles away. She ain t scared I ll leave her and go to you. She says she only wants me to be happy. That s love, you know. When you don t care about yourself, just the other person. (Pause) Ah, she ain t so special. She s got big ears she hides with her hair. She s a little fat and always goin on a diet, then eats chocolate and gets fat again. She ain t so pretty, but she smiles with her eyes. Yeah, they sure care about me. Must be my terrific personality.
From Surface Tension by Elyne Quan Playwrights Guild of Canada This play is an ironic exploration of surface appearances and the tensions created by the undue importance attached to them. WOMAN (Sighs) I ve always wanted to be taller. I ve wanted to be taller and different. Sometimes blond. That would be something. I clearly remember that in grade one I wished I had blond curly hair so I could wear pale blue ribbons in it and be really cute. Not just kind of cute, but really cute. I was walking home for lunch. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day. I was looking down at the ground at my silhouette - specifically my head and I remember wishing I had curly blond hair. I would be noticed. Pale blue ribbons and pigtails. And a matching dress, frilly but not too frilly. And matching little blue shoes with white patent bows on them. Shoes can make or break an outfit, you know. Well as hard as I wished I never became blond. Go figure. And dye jobs in the early eighties weren t the science they are now. Curly blond hair for a little Chinese girl was bit far-fetched so I did the best I could. Perms! So I could actually have curly pigtails if I wanted them. Of course I was older by now so pigtails were out of the question. (Takes out a photo and presents it to the audience.) Parted down the middle and curly and away from my face. Like the girl in Aha s Take On Me video. Yeah. So I had bad hair all the way through my formative years. But hair isn t everything.
From The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (Newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman) Samuel French Anne Frank was a young jewish girl who kept a diary while she and her family were in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. ANNE Sometimes I see myself alone in a dungeon, without Father and Mother, or I m roaming the streets, or the Annex is on fire, or they come in the middle of the night to take us away, and I know it could all happen soon. I see the eight of us in the Annex as if we were a patch of blue sky surrounded by menacing black clouds. The perfectly round spot on which we stand is still safe, but the clouds are moving in on us, and the ring between us and the approaching danger is being pulled tighter and tighter. We re surrounded by darkness and danger, and in our desperate search for a way out we keep bumping into each other. We look at the fighting down below and the peace and beauty above, but we re cut off by the dark mass of clouds and can go neither up nor down. It looms before us, an impenetrable wall, trying to crush us, but not yet able to. I can only cry out and implore, Oh ring, ring, open wide and let us out!
AUDITION MONOLOGUES - MALE From Skin by Dennis Foon Published in Skin and Liars by Playwrights Canada Press Tuan is a young man who recently arrived to Canada as a refugee and works as a cleaner outside of school. In this monologue he is remembering his big brother who drowned on a boat coming over from Vietnam. ( Although Tuan is of Asian heritage, for the purpose of this audition, this monologue can be performed by anyone who understands the immigrant experience.) TUAN Sometimes late at night when I am mopping the floors, I stop and listen. The empty building, so hollow. Buzzing of fluorescent tubes. Outside the rain beats against windows. I feel..like I m underwater. I think: around the corner, my older brother will be standing. Waiting to grab the mop from my hands, shouting, You re my little brother, why are you working when you should be sleeping? Give that mop to me, that is my job! And I look at him and his hair is still wet, wet like it was the last time I saw him. I want to say, Did you swim, I thought you drowned. How did you find me here, in Canada, in this city, in this building right now? You didn t drown, you re alive and you made it all the way to me.. and I walk down the corridor, turn the corner and look. The hallway goes on forever. It s empty. No sound but the hum of the lights. And the rain against the windows.
From Papers by Alan Stratton Samuel French This play is a comedy about two lonely people. Charles is a University professor who is struggling with his work. Charles is speaking to Myra, a neurotic academic. CHARLES For six years I have sat at that typewriter. I have stared at a blank sheet of paper. And it has stared back. I have sat and sat and stared and stared and nothing has happened. Nothing! Periodically, out of desperation, I have ripped it out and replaced it with another. And another. And started again. And again. And again. Staring at this blank piece of paper. And it staring back. I sit and I stare and I sit and I stare, listening to the radiator and the relentless tick tick ticking of the clock, while the hours turn to weeks turn to months turn to six years, my God and me sitting in the dark staring at a goddamn piece of paper that is driving me out of my mind! And everyone is asking, What are you working on? How s it coming? And me saying anything to shut them up. Anything to make the questions go away. But they don t. Every day they get louder. And how do I tell them my voices have left me? How do I tell myself that? That my God - they may never come again. Writing is who I am. If I don t write, what am I? And I sit and I sit and I sit trying to forget the clock that tells me life is short, it s drifting away, it s slipping away like water, I can t hold it, and every day is another day gone and time is running out and I may never write again.
From The Producers by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan MTI Shows The Producers is a 1968 American satirical comedy film. Leo is the accountant and Max Bialystock is a Producer. Before sentencing, Leo makes an impassioned statement to the court praising Max Bialystock for changing his life and being his friend (while also referring to him as "the most selfish man I have ever met in my life"), and Max tells the judge that they have learned their lesson. LEO BLOOM I would like to say something your honor, not on my behalf, but in reference to my partner, Mr. Bialystock your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Max Bialystock is the most selfish man I ever met in my life Not only is he a liar, and a cheat, and a scoundrel, and a crook, who has taken money from little old ladies, he has also talked people into doing things, especially me, they would never in a thousand years had dreamed of doing. But, your honor, as I understand it, the law was created to protect people from being wronged. Your honor, whom has Max Bialystock wronged? I mean, whom has he really hurt? Not me. Not me. I was this man no one ever called me Leo before. I mean, I know it s not a big legal point, but even in kindergarten they used to call me Bloom. I never sang a song before. I mean with someone else, I never sang a song with someone else before. This man this man this is a wonderful man. He made me what I am today he did. And what of the dear ladies? What would their lives have been without Max Bialystock? Max Bialystock, who made them feel young, and attractive, and wanted again. That s all I have to say.
From You re a Good Man, Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner Tams-Whitmark Music Library, Inc. This is a comedy about an average day in the life of Charlie Brown. It really is just that, a day made up of little moments picked from all the days of Charlie Brown, from Valentine s Day to the baseball season, to lunchtime at school. CHARLIE BROWN I think lunchtime is about the worst time of the day for me. Always having to sit here alone. Of course, sometimes mornings aren t so pleasant, either waking up and wondering if anyone would really miss me if I never got out of bed. Then there s the night, too lying there and thinking about all the stupid things I ve done during the day. And all those hours in between when I do all those stupid things. Well, lunchtime is among the worst times of the day for me. Well, I guess I d better see what I ve got. (He opens the bag, unwraps a sandwich, and looks inside.) Peanut butter. (He bites and chews.) Some psychiatrists say that people who eat peanut butter sandwiches are lonely. I guess they re right. And if you re really lonely, the peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth. (He munches quietly, idly fingering the bench.) Boy, the PTA sure did a good job of painting these benches. (He looks off to one side.) There s that cute little redheaded girl eating her lunch over there. I wonder what she d do if I went over and asked her if I could sit and have lunch with her. She d probably laugh right in my face. It s hard on a face when it gets laughed in. There s an empty place next to her on the bench. There s no reason why I couldn t just go over and sit there. I could do that right now. All I have to do is stand up. (He stands.) I m standing up. (He sits.) I m sitting down. I m a coward. I m so much of a coward she wouldn t even think of looking at me. In fact, I can t remember her ever looking at me. Why shouldn t she look at me? Is there any reason in the world why she shouldn t look at me? Is she so great and am I so small that she couldn t spare one little moment just to (He freezes.) She s looking at me. (In terror, he looks one way, then another.) She s looking at me.
From One Thousand Cranes by Colin Thomas Published by Simon and Pierre publishing Co. Ltd- trade paperback. A 12 year old Canadian boy tries to cope with his fear of nuclear war. This powerful drama celebrates hope and peace for the future. BUDDY The end of the world? Oh, snap! I ve gotta tell you. It was so weird. I was in the mall?... and this crazy guy, he walks right up to me and starts screaming. Are you ready for the end of the world? And I just stand there. I mean, what am I supposed to do? And then he takes off. Feeeow! Like he s being chased by the police from the planet Bazonkers. And then I went into the stereo store and all these T.V s in the store were showing this guy and there s been an accident in this nuclear reactor. And this guy looks awful - all burned up and everything. And then all of a sudden all of these T.V s, all hundred and seventy million of them, they zoom in on this one guy, real close, and I look into his eyes, and... it s like I m in the T.V s! I feel like I am that guy! And I can feel my body, like what his body feels like. And it s burning! Like my body was burning up, I felt like I was gonna throw up, I felt like I was gonna die! And then a commercial comes on and I m saved. Oooohohoho. Isn t that weird? It made me think about... the end of the world...you know... the real end of the world... like nuclear war. The Claude Watson Secondary Arts Program is housed at Earl Haig Secondary School