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Part 4- Brainstorming

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Now that you’ve practiced writing stage directions and monologues, it’s time for you to start working on your performance monologue, which is the final monologue you’ll work on in this self-guided monologue writing experience.

The first step in making a performance monologue is for you to think about what you care about, and how to write a monologue you care about as well.

The idea here is that if you care about your monologue as you write it, the actor will care when they perform it, and the audience will care as they hear it
Let’s get into some brainstorming!
  • Brainstorming: Start Here
  • Brainstorming Guide
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Three Choices

  • Start with the idea from one of your practice monologues.  If you love the ideas or speaker or concept from one of those, start there.  
  • Start with a totally new idea.  Write a brand new monologue that is completely original, not inspired by what you’ve written already.  
  • Finally, Monologues are short… you can write a few and choose one.  Either way, you’ll be revising this first draft, so don’t worry too much about what to choose.  ​
Now, move to the "Brainstorming Guide" Tab.
Monologue Brainstorming Guide
You can download the worksheet, or work through the guide below on this page.
4_-_monologue_brainstorming_guide.pdf
File Size: 149 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

The essential question is this: What do you care about?

Start by taking the next 15-20 minutes to brainstorm with this brainstorming worksheet.
Answer the following questions:
  • What is a problem I see in my life?  In my community? In the world? What is an issue worth exploring/wrestling with?
  • What kind of person might have to deal with this problem?  Who will be my speaker?
  • Who will my speaker be talking to?  Who will be my listener?
  • How will my speaker and listener know each other?  What will be their relationship?
  • Where will my monologue take place? 
  • What is the crisis that my speaker is experiencing?  What will create urgency in this monologue for my speaker and/or my listener?  
  • What will my speaker be doing as they say these words? 
  • What will my speaker want?
Now that you’ve brainstormed and figured out what you want to write about, let’s move on to writing a first draft of your performance monologue!
Next--->
Part 5 : First Draft

Links to help you pickup where you left off!
Part 1
Excellent Examples
Part 2
Dynamic Writing
Part 3
Practice
​Writing
Part 4
Brainstorming
​
Part 5
First Draft
​

Part 6
Revision
​

Part 7
Sharing
​

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

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Phone: 215-665-9226
Fax: 215-665-9228 Email: [email protected]
  • Programs
    • In School Programs
    • 2025 Annual Playwriting Festival
    • Community-Based Programs
  • About
    • Mission & History
    • People
    • Alumni
    • Supporters
    • Podcast
    • Press
    • Careers
    • Donate
  • Classes
    • Current Offerings
    • Summer Camp 2025
  • On Stage
    • SaturPLAY 2025
    • Play Development Series at Rutgers Camden
    • Play Development Series at Drexel
    • Play Development Series at CCP 2024
    • New Voices 2024
  • Resources
    • PYP at Home
    • Quarantine Challenge
    • For Students
    • For Educators
    • For Parents
  • Untitled