10 Special Speeches for the Spectacularly Smart

Written by Amanda Grace

August 30th, 2020

With age comes the wisdom to identify wisdom in all its forms. Some of these characters are braniacs, some are magicians, and all of them will challenge you to be your very cleverest self.

A monologue from For My Silent Sisters by Tara Meddaugh

(Female, Dramatic, High School 14-18)

Marta, a Romanian teenager, has been falsely lured away from her family to a “training facility” which grooms girls to work as prostitutes in Europe. Marta’s best friend at the facility, Tasaria, has been burned at the stake because she was caught trying to escape. Here, Marta lays out her own escape plan.

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A monologue from Three Sisters on Hope Street by Diane Samuels and Tracy-Ann Oberman

(Male, Serio-Comic, Adults 30-40s)

Arnold Lasky is a gifted scholar, linguist, artist and musician, but after marrying his overbearing wife and having a child, he gives up on his PhD and develops a gambling habit. Eventually, he is forced to sell his house to his father-in-law; as he is pressured to make over the deeds, Arnold imagines talking to his dead father, wondering what he would have made of it all.

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A monologue from The Nose That Ran Away from Its Face by Joseph Robinette

(Any Gender, Comedic, High School 14-18, Kids & Juniors 5-13)

A giant sneeze separates a young boy and his pun-loving proboscis; having just escaped the boy’s face, the Nose is finally ‘running’ free on his own. This sassy schnozzle’s puns and wit know no bounds.

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A monologue from Bell Shaped Body by Gabriel Davis

(Female, Comedic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22)

In this standalone piece, a woman explains her interacting passions for brownies and statistics.

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A monologue from The Tempest by William Shakespeare

(Male, Dramatic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s)

Fighting to exert nobler reason over the fury of revenge against his usurping brother Alonso, Prospero decides to surrender his magical powers and seek restitution in forgiveness. This is his last piece of conjuring before burying his magical staff and Spellbook; it is an immense act of will.

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Smart by Douglas M. Parker

(Any Gender, Comedic, High School 14-18, Kids & Juniors 5-13)

After beginning studies in biology and chemistry, a kid aspires to invent a pill that will make you super-smart… but in order to pass the classes, they may need to take the pill First.

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A monologue from Futurama by Samantha Charlip

(Male, Serio-Comic, Adults 30-40s)

Otis is an employee of the hokey theme park Futurama, where he works with April, for whom he has feelings. When he is brave enough to ask her if she’d like to hear a speech on a Many-Worlds Theory he’s prepared for a presentation at the Secret Science Club, she agrees to give it a listen.

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Sticks and Stones by Janet Milstein

(Female, Comedic, Kids & Juniors 5-13)

Lisa’s brother is always teasing her and calling her dumb. Well, today, Lisa finally outsmarted her brother—and she’s eager to impress a friend with the details of how she did it.

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A monologue from The Bridge by Bruce Solheim

(Male, Dramatic, Mature 50s)

Harry, a physics teacher, speaks freely to Simone about quantum physics, explaining reality, as we see it, as best he can. His wife is on life support and Harry knows it’s his job to move his wife to the next “plane of existence”… so he’s come to The Golden Gate Bridge. 

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A monologue from The Learned Ladies by Timothy Mooney

(Male, Serio-Comic, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)

From a collection of over 160 of Moliere’s funniest monologues in new, rhymed iambic pentameter comes this speech from Clitandre, who cannot bring himself to suffer fools gladly. He loves Henriette, and would do anything for her, but as she tries to get him to play along with her mother and her mother’s clique of scholars, he resists.

Get the Monologue Here



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Amanda Grace is an actor, writer, composer, improvisor and director whose work has graced stages from  Central Florida to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is based in London, where she is studying to obtain her M.F.A. in Actor & Performer Training at Rose Bruford College. Amanda holds an honours B.A. in Theatre Studies and a B.A. in Psychology, as well as a certificate in Shakespearean Performance from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her original albums can be streamed at amandagrace.bandcamp.com.
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