In November of 2005, I was invited to work with the Santa Fe Performing Arts Company in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In pre-production for an upcoming show at the theater, I became involved in the casting process. Auditions were held for several days. I watched actor after actor walk into the room and deliver incredibly well-polished, well-executed monologues.
It occurred to me that an actor’s audition monologue is arguably his very best work. It has to be. It is what an actor offers as example of his talent, skill and capacity. Delivered to a producer, director or casting agent, it is the ace he plays in order to win a role. It also occurred to me that no audience would ever see it.
I returned to the east coast in March of 2006 with a clarity gained from living in the New Mexico mountains and an idea for a show. By April, I was casting and by May, MONDAY NIGHT MONOLOGUES was onstage.
Set in a storytelling format, the audience was delivered to the moment of monologue. Presented on a bare stage with no sets, costumes or props, audiences felt the stark, antiseptic arena of an audition and marveled when an actor lit up the room by bringing a character to life right before their eyes.
It ran for eight months, a new show every two weeks, 90 actors and over 200 monologues. We moved three times to accommodate ever-growing numbers. For the audiences, it was a moment standing in an actor’s shoes, getting an inside look at the real work. For the actors, it was personal, unlike anything they’d ever done before.
A nibble from a cable network in 2010 gave me the chance to stage it one more time, to film it. The project rekindled interest from actors, properties and audiences and set loose a momentum that would revive this show yet again.
The history of MONDAY NIGHT MONOLOGUES is still being written, running June and July of 2012 at Plays & Players in Philadelphia. The best of past performers are teaming with exciting new talent to create another page. A good idea seven years ago has matured into a truly great theatrical experience.
-Dambra Sabato
It occurred to me that an actor’s audition monologue is arguably his very best work. It has to be. It is what an actor offers as example of his talent, skill and capacity. Delivered to a producer, director or casting agent, it is the ace he plays in order to win a role. It also occurred to me that no audience would ever see it.
I returned to the east coast in March of 2006 with a clarity gained from living in the New Mexico mountains and an idea for a show. By April, I was casting and by May, MONDAY NIGHT MONOLOGUES was onstage.
Set in a storytelling format, the audience was delivered to the moment of monologue. Presented on a bare stage with no sets, costumes or props, audiences felt the stark, antiseptic arena of an audition and marveled when an actor lit up the room by bringing a character to life right before their eyes.
It ran for eight months, a new show every two weeks, 90 actors and over 200 monologues. We moved three times to accommodate ever-growing numbers. For the audiences, it was a moment standing in an actor’s shoes, getting an inside look at the real work. For the actors, it was personal, unlike anything they’d ever done before.
A nibble from a cable network in 2010 gave me the chance to stage it one more time, to film it. The project rekindled interest from actors, properties and audiences and set loose a momentum that would revive this show yet again.
The history of MONDAY NIGHT MONOLOGUES is still being written, running June and July of 2012 at Plays & Players in Philadelphia. The best of past performers are teaming with exciting new talent to create another page. A good idea seven years ago has matured into a truly great theatrical experience.
-Dambra Sabato