Women Warriors: Monologues for Girls Who’ve Got Bite
Amanda Grace
July 20, 2020
I was halfway through my undergraduate degree, sitting amongst piles of plays in the third-floor stacks before audition week when I realized, “If I read one more speech as the frail and needy girlfriend, I’m going to hurl.” These monologues are not that! The following ten pieces offer up agency and aggression when you’re looking to play a woman who speaks—and lives—for herself.
A monologue from The Star Killer by David-Matthew Barnes
(Female, Serio-Comic, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)
Jennifer Hawkins, an investigative journalist, is assigned to write an article about television news reporter Marco Visconti, whom she suspects murdered an international film star to boost his failing career by breaking the story.
A monologue from Your Swash is Unbuckled by Jeff Goode
(Female, Comedic, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)
A Female Brigand leaps up on a pub table with a rapier in one hand and a tankard of ale in the other. She is sick and tired of the men in the pub bragging about their accomplishments, and she challenges every man to combat to prove their mettle. She is mighty, rude, brazen, unashamed, and uninhibited.
A monologue from Tooth by Crystal Skillman
(Female, Dramatic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)
A woman is on a date with a writer. The writer tries to impress her with his views on his profession: how essential and painstaking each choice is; how much talent he possesses. She counters with the following monologue about her trip to the dentist. While she reclines in the examination chair, the dentist’s anesthesia leads her into a dream world where memories of her family exist, especially one of her Uncle Bernie in particular. The dream may or may not be based on a real incident, which makes the man uncomfortable.
A monologue from The Princess of Caspia by Ricardo Soltero-Brown
(Female, Dramatic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)
Simon is having an affair; trying to get her husband’s attention, Taylor has just broken his prized Dudamel baton in half. He tells her to pick it up, and when she refuses, he keeps demanding that she follow his orders. When Taylor counters, “Or else what?” Simon doesn’t respond. Here, she tells Simon that she is the only one who will fight for him like this. She loves him, but not the person who he is right now.
A monologue from Hecuba by Euripides
(Female, Dramatic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s)
After the Trojan War, before the Greeks depart Troy, King Priam’s wife Hecuba, is grieving her daughter Polyxena’s death and plotting revenge for the murder of her youngest son, Polydorus. The city she was once Queen of has fallen. Within the confines of a coastal Greek camp, Hecuba shames Agamemnon for his actions.
A monologue from Bronte by Polly Teale
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adults 20s)
On Anne and Charlotte Bronte’s return from London, their brother Branwell dies. While Anne sorts through his clothes in the aftermath, Charlotte complains of the pressure she feels to deliver a second and further outstanding piece of work fit to follow Jane Eyre. This speech is Anne’s response, as she begins to question the sisters’ need to write at all.
A monologue from Martha’s (b)Rainstorm: A Boston Fairy Tale by John J King
(Female, Dramatic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)
Chelonia Mydas, a 300-plus-year-old sea turtle, cares for her species’ last two eggs as the world changes around her. Rising waters and migrant predators make it too dangerous to stay in their traditional birthing ground. She must move her eggs to a safe new location and help protect them when they hatch.
A monologue from In the Shadow of My Son by Nadine Bernard
(Female, Dramatic, Young Adults 20s)
Tristyn had her first baby six months ago and has been suffering from postpartum
depression, but she’s good at putting on a happy face and hiding it. Here, she shares with the audience the truth about how she feels.
A monologue from Knock by Lauren Kettler
(Female, Serio-Comic, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22)
Knock takes place in a semi-decent motel room somewhere in Key West. Miranda is down from Tallahassee for a weekend with her boyfriend, Lem. When a despondent Lem shoots himself, Miranda takes refuge in Joy’s room next door. Thus begins the unlikely bonding of two very different women, both in the throes of facing their own fears.
A monologue from What Glorious Times They Had by Diane Grant
(Female, Dramatic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22)
Nellie McClung delivers this monologue about how women have been deserved by the concept of chivalry and how this concept has contributed to subversive sexism through the ages. An intelligent woman, Nellie uses strong, educated, and precise language to explain her views on chivalry. This monologue occurs in pre-World-War-I Manitoba, Canada, before any women had the right to vote in this province.