Monologues for Characters Who Are Yearning for Change

Written by Amanda Grace

May 27, 2020

Feeling restless? So are these characters! The desire for something different has incredible dramatic potential. Break out of the ordinary and into the new with these monologues.

A monologue from Broadway or Bust by Rosary O’Neill

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

Two lovestruck actors, a breast cancer survivor and an alcoholic, audition for Broadway and are confronted with questions they are afraid to answer and routines that lead them to question their lives, ultimately defying all the rules in the attempt to get cast.

Get the Monologue Here

A monologue from Buried Alive by Rosary O’Neill

(Female, Serio-Comic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)

Marie, a 19th-century Black occult goddess, finds herself buried alive in New Orleans and calls on Voodoo magic to bring her back to life.

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A monologue from No Romance by Nancy Harris

(Female, Dramatic, Adults 30-40s)

Laura is soon to start treatment for breast cancer and thinks it will be best to end her one-year relationship with boyfriend Simon. Before she does so, with his fortieth birthday approaching, she wants to give him a present to remember her by an album of sexy photographs of herself. Here, Laura reveals to photographer Gail she has no intention of telling Simon about her cancer.

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A monologue from Scenes from the Big Picture by Owen McCafferty

(Female, Dramatic, Young Adults 20s)

Maeve has stolen a dummy baby for mothers-to-be from a hospital in Belfast. When Joe arrives home, he mistakes the dummy for a real baby, and uses the opportunity to reveal his true feelings towards Maeve and their marriage. After Maeve shows him that the baby is a dummy, she responds to Joe’s crazed confession.

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A monologue from Future Anxiety by Laurel Haines

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

It’s the future, and America’s got problems. Tsunamis pummel the globe, strawberries are extinct, and China calls in its debt, taking humans in lieu of cash. Karl has built a homemade spaceship to escape Earth and travel to a new planet.

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A monologue from Rain and Zoe Save the World by Crystal Skillman

(Female, Dramatic, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22, High School 14-18)

Rain and Zoe are out on a seven-day-long motorcycle trip across the country to join in on an environmental protest. Zoe recounts an incident at school that got her suspended, where she took a stand against bullying by punching a girl in the face, only to have the incident blamed on her and not the bully.

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A monologue from Snakes in a Lunchbox by Arthur M. Jolly

(Any Gender, Dramatic, College 18-22, High School 14-18)

Peyton, a middle school bully, has had a complete change of heart after witnessing violence at home.

Get the Monologue Here

A monologue from Yasmina, Cloris, and Gordafarid by Evan Guilford-Blake

(Female, Dramatic, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22)

Cloris is about to be deployed for duty, and having just turned 21, she has the world ahead of her. Writing to her boyfriend, she dreams of coming back home—and she WILL make it back home—to finally get married, have kids, and live happily ever after with Paulie.

Get the Monologue Here

A monologue from Sally by Sandra Seaton

(Female, Dramatic, Mature 50s)

Sally Hemings tends to Thomas Jefferson in his late age, hoping he keeps his promise to free their children before he passes away. Thomas has written his will, but it does not give Sally or her children their freedom as promised.

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A monologue from Know Your Role by Brandi Owensby

(Female, Dramatic, College 18-22, High School 14-18)

Teresa’s softball team has won multiple awards, and she has already scouted for college. However, her school has still decided that the boys’ baseball team—with a dismal record, to say the least—is the higher priority. It’s about time something was done.

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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