In-Class Writing: Dramatic Monologue

1) Who is your character? Briefly describe.

My character is a girl in her late teens named Madison. She is from the television series "American Horror Story" in the first season. I do not watch American Horror Story, so I had to read up about my character. Madison is one of a group of witches who is a very vain, selfish, and mean girl. One day she is killed by another witch who wishes to take her power. Madison is brought back to life, but she is not truly living because she cannot feel anything and is in eternal numbness. All she wants is to go back to her old life and feel again. Madison is played by the actress Emma Roberts.

2) What is the setting of your piece and what is your motivation?

The setting of this scene is in a large, lonely (however, not that creepy) mansion. Madison moves from room to room in this scene (which unfortunately I cannot do) so I plan to have a chair and a table with various objects like a knife, drink, and maybe a fake cigaret that I will use throughout the scene while still moving around the space. There is one motivation in this monologue and one desire of Madison- to feel pain again. She is sick of the numbness of death and wants to be human and feel pain again. However, I am avoiding the supernatural part of this character in this monologue. Instead, I will play this character as a normal human but one that is feeling the numbness of depression and loss instead.

3) What do you imagine for costuming and set?

In this monologue, Madison is dressed simply on a long black dress and black shoes. She does not have much makeup on or any accessories. I think the day I perform my final draft of this monologue, I will wear one of my plain black dresses and black flats to school. I will not do anything special with my hair. For the set, I am still thinking of ways I can get my point across since the monologue is performed while Madison is movin from room to room. I think I would like to have a chair with a table in front of it that includes props of a knife, a fake liquor/poison bottle, and a fake cigarette.

4) What do you imagine for blocking?

For blocking in this scene, I am still planning what I want to do to get my point across. I think I will start off in the chair and interact with the various props as the monologue continues. At the beginning of the monologue, Madison is found smoking so I think I will do that before I start talking. I want to move slow around the table pacing in this monologue. When it comes to the part about drinking, I want to walk back over to the table and pretend to drink all of it. Then, towards the very end I will take the knife and twirl it around and pretend to cut myself.

5) This piece is a very dark and mature piece. It covers depression and a numbness to the world which are not easy subjects. The character I play is also slightly mentally insane, so I feel like this  will be the most challenging thing I have ever performed. However, I really love this monologue and I feel if I give my best effort I can do a good job. Ever since Alexis performed her serial killer monologue I wanted to do something slightly insane like it and I think this is the perfect monologue for me.