9 Dramatic Female Monologues from Characters in Crisis
Written by Tiffany Weagly-Wilkie
April 12, 2017
Looking for a female monologue from a character struggling with a crisis? We’ve pulled nine from our collection that dig deep into a character’s innermost psychological workings during a catastrophe.
A monologue from Chiraptophobia by Hannah Estelle Sears
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Anorexia)
Chiraptophobia is an inspiring and innovatively structured examination of a community’s struggles with grief and guilt in the wake of the loss of a teenage girl to an eating disorder. Moving fluidly from present survivor monologues to past scenes with the troubled teen, friends and family come to terms with Rachel’s disease and the roles, however unwitting, that they played in her death as they learn to carry on. Teenaged Julia is at the funeral of a friend who died as a result of an eating disorder. She’s alone with the coffin.
A monologue from Boys by Ella Hickson
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Suicide)
Mack, Cam, Timp and Benny share a flat in Edinburgh. It is the end of term, Mack and Benny are graduating and the contract is up on their flat. The boys have been partying. The festivities continue the following evening when the boys are joined by Timp’s girlfriend Laura and Sophie, who we soon understand is having a secret relationship with Mack. It becomes apparent that Sophie used to go out with Benny’s brother Peter. Peter has recently hanged himself. During the course of the evening, Sophie confesses to Laura that she is in love with Mack and that it was while she was still with Peter that she started seeing him. She explains to Laura that Mack had told her that before anything could happen between them she would have to choose between him and Peter. Laura then makes the connection between Peter’s suicide and Sophie’s choice. Immediately after this conversation with Laura, Mack enters and in a snatched moment between them, Sophie broaches the subject. The girl is English.
A monologue from Women of Choice by David Rush
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Bi-Polar Disorder)
This standalone monologue is entitled “MARY, the widow.” Mary (late 20s+) is praying to God in confession. She reveals that after her husband, Nick, came back from the war, he wasn’t the same. His violence and altered personality take a toll on their family. One night, Mary hears Nick get out of bed and go down to the garage. His death and her inaction to prevent it are the subjects of this riveting monologue.
A monologue from How Love is Spelt by Chloë Moss
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Pregnancy)
Peta’s bedsit, London. Peta, twenty, has run away to London for a couple of weeks in an attempt to get away from her life back in Liverpool. She gave no warning, leaving only a note for Colin by way of explanation. She is pregnant with Colin’s baby and needs time and space to figure out what it is she wants. Colin, twenty-two years older than Peta, is as much a father to her as a lover. After a series of unhappy encounters she feels fearful, misses Colin and asks him to come and take her home. Before they leave, Peta is insistent that Colin listens to her. She needs to tell him things.
A monologue from Women of Choice by David Rush
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Transgender)
This standalone monologue is entitled “MARCIA, the Diver.” Marcia is a transgender woman who has saved almost enough money of her goal ($35,000) to complete her gender reassignment surgery. However, she has been in a relationship with a man who keeps pushing her to have sex with him. She is stuck in a situation where she must choose to either get a back-alley surgery (a very risky procedure, as it may be a scam or end in death) OR tell her boyfriend the truth (another equally risky choice that may result in Marcia being physically injured by her boyfriend). Here, she visits a website for the transgender community and posts on their message board, asking their advice and weighing her options.
A monologue from Sky Lines by David Matthew-Barnes
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Death)
Sky Lines explores the lives of Venita, Maggie, and Sarah who live in a rundown apartment building in an unnamed American city. Venita is an African-American woman who has been ostracized from her family for marrying a white man named George. Maggie endures a loveless marriage and within ten years gives birth to five children. Sarah desires a life of picture-perfect glamour and excitement and has married her high school sweetheart Jimmy. After a few brushes with reality, Sarah becomes dismayed with her predictable life and slips into a crippling depression. Over the course of 34 years, Venita, Maggie, and Sarah confront social and political issues as they fight to assert their identity and protect their friendship. Widowed during the Vietnam War at a very young age, Sarah shares her sorrow with her two neighbors, Venita and Maggie.
A monologue from House of Angels by Jennie S. Redling
(Female, Dramatic, 18-22, Depression)
Autumn (19) is on the verge of a manic episode right before a tea party planned for her sister Helen’s fiancé whom she secretly loves. Autumn inherited her illness from her father who killed himself, and with whom she felt a natural kinship she cannot share with her mother, Amelia, and her sister. When Autumn comes upon them discussing Amelia’s social ambitions, Helen lies and says they were just saying how sad that their father wouldn’t be present at Helen’s wedding. Autumn’s thoughts and speech instantly take flight.
A monologue from If They Come Tonight by Angela Cerrito
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Danger)
A short play made up of multiple monologues; this monologue serves as the prologue to the story. Irena describes her plight as an ally to the escaping children and families during WWII. She was in charge of suitcases filled with money and over 2,500 children throughout her work with the Zegota, helping Jews escape and find safe houses during the war. Throughout this monologue, we would never guess that tonight is the night she will be found out by the Gestapo, and sent to prison for her work.
A monologue from The Vigil (or The Guided Cradle) by Crystal Skillman
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adult, Violence)
Prague. A room in an older, run down hotel. Foreigner talks with her translator after he has returned with food and beer. She mentions that she thought about staying in Prague, and the translator asks her if her father would miss her. When she is silent, he assumes she didn’t get along with him. In this monologue, Foreigner breaks the ice by talking about teddy bears, and then explains how her relationship with her father changed after she saw a gruesome picture of him during the war. Thinking the bear told on her discovery and got her in trouble, she defaces it and hides the evidence away from the world.