Evaluating my Dramatic Monologue

Although I have not performed my final draft yet, I have evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of my monologue. I believe my strengths in my dramatic monologue are my facial expressions and my vocal tone. I am strong at articulating my words and being loud while performing monologues. I also believe that I can believably convey nervousness and anxiety through facial expressions. However, I think that in my final draft I need sound more nostalgic when I talk about when my father was a cop. I believe that my weaknesses are pacing in the monologue. My monologue is not that long, and when I perform it too fast I end up finishing it at around 45 seconds. In my final draft, I want to be able to wake sure that my pauses are just the right amount of time to add tension but not too long and drawn out. I believe that if I pace correctly than I will improve the monologue and make the one minute mark. I also think that I can improve my body language and movements throughout the monologue. I have experiment a little with my body expressions for a while and I think I finally have them set down. Being strong with my actions will contribute to making this monologue believable and help me become my character. One thing I want to work on and hope I achieve in my final draft is building up tension as the monologue continues until the ending where it finally is released. I also want to be able to convey my monologue in a way that the beginning lines of the monologue are understood as a conversation with a police officer and that the rest of my monologue is a flashback to when I was younger. The dramatic monologue I am performing now is a lot different than my first monologue. This monologue, I have to play a character instead of myself. My monologue is also very serious and does not have any comedy unlike my "Who am I" monologue. I feel like this monologue is harder to perform because the character I play, Sue, is very unlike me and has a very different background than me. There is not a long backstory revealed for my character, so I had to be creative in imaging how she would act and talk. I really have to get into character and be serious for this monologue. Watching other students in my class perform their dramatic monologue has helped me perform my monologue. A lot of our monologues are very similar to each other and have dark undertones. I have learned how to get into my serious character by watching other people playing their own characters, although our monologues and characters are all very different from each other.  Everyone's feedback in class has really helped me to connect more with my audience. My first draft of the monologue is extremely different than what I am working on in my monologue now. When I perform my final draft, I will do my best to follow their advice and to remember what I have worked on. If I do that, I know that this monologue will be both interesting and believable for my audience!