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Audition Resources

At auditions for The Play Group Theatre, each young actor is expected to have a prepared monologue 1-2 minutes in length.

Here are some sample monologues, each 1-2 minutes in length. They have been written for/used in PGT shows, and can be used for auditions. Students and actors may use these monologues without requesting rights if used for an audition or classroom exercise. Performance rights only need to be applied for if used for performance to an audience. They are copyrighted material. You must request performance rights or permission to print multiple copies from The Play Group Theatre.

The Vegetarian
I See Magic
A Female Employee
Braces
My Brother

There are a number of good sources that are a collection of monologues which you may be able to find at the library, bookstore or even online. Monologue collections include:

Monologues for Girls collection
Monologues for Boys collection
Monologues for Young Actors by Lorraine Cohen
My 1st Monologue - 100 Monologues for Young Children by Kristen Dabrowski
The Methuen Book of Monologues for Young Actors by Anne Harvey
Young Women's Monologues from Contemporary Plays by Gerald Lee Ratliff
Great Monologues for Young Actors by Craig Slaight and Jack Sharrar

To purchase other monologue books online, visit Amazon.com. Part of the proceeds of your purchase through this link will benefit our children's programs.

Sheet Music

For sheet music, you may be able to find your audition songs online at www.sheetmusicplus.com and www.musicnotes.com or order and download sheet music to your computer at www.musicnotes.com or www.sheetmusicdirect.com. If you would like to find a specific show tune, try this A-Z selection at Broadway Sheet Music.

If you have any questions about the auditions process, you may reach Jill Abusch, Artistic Director, at (914) 946-4433 or by email at jill@playgroup.org.

Additional Information

Audition Information

Audition Tips

Audition Material - Sample Monologues

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Audition Information

Students enrolling in PGT Mainstage audition each season. For the audition, young actors are expected to present a brief monologue and a song (each being 1-2 minutes in length). Students are expected to be fully prepared for their audition; audition material should be well rehearsed and committed to memory. Check our audition material page for possible monologues and ideas on where to find monologue collection books. You can also find a helpful list of audition “Do’s and Don’ts” on our audition tips page. If you have questions about preparing your audition, please email Rachael at rachael@playgroup.org.

Actors should bring to their audition a current photo of themselves and sheet music for their song (in the right key), so the musical director can accompany them on the piano. It is also helpful to bring a calendar of any times and dates that may conflict with the MainStage season.

PGT Mainstage auditions take place in September and February. To register for PGT MainStage, please complete the registration form including audition day/time preferences and fax or mail it in. Registered students will be contacted with their scheduled audition appointment information.

We are looking for students with enthusiasm and an interest in the collaborative artistic process. At the audition, potential students will let us know whether they have the focus, maturity, creativity and spirit that is needed for PGT MainStage. If, following the audition, we do not believe you will be successful in this conservatory program, we may recommend another PGT program or refund any tuition payments you have made.

The following monologue is an excerpt from Girl Talk and are for audition material only, courtesy of The Play Group Theatre. Performance rights may be requested by contacting The Play Group Theatre at 914-946-4433 or by filling out the performance rights application.

A Female Employee

Jackie
I couldn't wait to start babysitting. I had been watching my younger brother for so long, I was definitely ready to turn pro. My first job was for two little girls, five and eight. Their parents both worked full time and so when Saturday night came around, they were ready for a night out of fun. And, for them, fun didn't include the kids. Great for me, right? I got a job out of it. But those kids were so lonely for their parents. They had a babysitter all week long and then, on the weekends, they got me. I was the last person they wanted to see when Saturday night rolled around. So, as soon as their parents would leave, they would begin to torture me. It started out as little things, telling me all the wrong information like whose room was whose or that, in their family, for Saturday's dinner, it was traditional to eat only Cheese Doodles. Then they started using the second phone line to make prank calls to me. They even sent a scary fax once. Since when do eight year olds know how to work a fax machine? Then, on my fifth time babysitting, they asked me to find a game all the way in the back of the closet, and they locked me in. I could hear them cracking up for the longest time. I banged and screamed and threatened them with everything I could think of, but really, I was at a pretty severe disadvantage. So I just sat there and listened. They watched TV for a while and played some games. I heard the older one tell her sister not to worry, that Mom and Dad were running out of options and there probably wouldn't be another babysitter. But then it got quiet. I guess they fell asleep. And eventually, so did I. If there's one thing worse than having the people you're babysitting for find you asleep on the couch, it's having them find you asleep in the closet. It was pretty humiliating. I never went back. But I think about them a lot. I wonder how many babysitters their parents found asleep in the closet before they decided to spend Saturday nights at home. Or if they ever did. Anyway, my babysitting career has been going much better since then. I guess the one good thing about being locked in a closet is — there's nowhere to go but up!

The following monologue is an excerpt from Girl Talk and is for audition material only, courtesy of The Play Group Theatre. Performance rights may be requested by contacting The Play Group Theatre at 914-946-4433 or by filling out the performance rights application.

The Vegetarian

Gayle
The other day, my mom was cleaning a chicken... you know, the dead kind, the kind you eat. Notice, I say "you." That's because I don't eat dead chickens anymore. I don't eat live ones either, of course. I just don't eat chickens. Not after seeing a perfectly shaped chicken just sitting on the kitchen counter getting its last tiny feathers plucked out, just before getting cooked, cut up into pieces and eaten for dinner. It's easy when it's chicken salad, or even chicken cutlets, if you just never think about where it came from. But, I mean there it was, it looked just like a chicken, just like the kind you see on a farm or in a petting zoo. Except this one was bald. Bald and dead. I just decided right then and there that I couldn't do it. I told my mom "starting right now, I'm a vegetarian!" Without so much as a blink she said, "So, should I make you some spinach for dinner tonight?" "What do you mean?" I asked her. It had never occurred to me that vegetarians actually eat vegetables.

The following monologue is for audition material only, courtesy of The Play Group Theatre. Performance rights may be requested by contacting The Play Group Theatre at 914-946-4433 or by filling out the performance rights application.

I See Magic

Mira
I see magic. I hear the most extraordinary things. I know secret wishes and good deeds done. I have more friends than you can imagine, [beat] they just don't know notice. When nobody interupts, you just keep looking. And listening. And wishing. I wish so much for my friends. I wish he knew how smart it is to still try, even when you feel dumb. I wish she knew she's most pretty when she's covered with dust and catching a ball. And I wish that when he feels most alone that he could notice his friend is standing right here. I wish for me too, I wish, that someday, they'll all interupt... and then I'll get to tell them the things I've seen... and the things I've heard... and the things I know!

Braces

It all started out on a lovely day last year. It did not turn out so lovely. The good thing about it was that I got to miss an hour of school. So, there I was. Eleven o'clock in the morning and goodbye social studies. The sun was shining brightly as my mom and I walked away from the school. But as we got closer and closer to — the office — a dark cloud began to hide the sun from me. That was the beginning of a life of torture... I got braces. See? Here they are, still sitting on my teeth. Just waiting for any opportunity to make my life miserable. Can we discuss rubber bands? News flash — supposed to hold newspapers together — not teeth! And, by the way, have you ever tried playing the trumpet with braces? Don't! I used to get all the solos and stuff. Now, I can barely squeak out a note. The other day, my best friend came up to me after lunch and said "What did you eat that was orange?" Now, every day I bring a little brush to school and use it after lunch. My Dad says it will all be worth it when my teeth are straight and perfect. Personally, I thought my teeth were just fine crooked. They gave me character. Who wants to be perfect anyway? (she shoots a rubber band at the floor) Yeah, me too.

My Brother

Lucy
I always wanted a little sister. I can remember when I was eight I went around telling all my friends that I was getting a sister. One of them must have told her mother and it made it's way back to my mother and I got in trouble for lying. But nobody ever bothered to ask why I had lied. I saw my friends with their sisters. And I wanted that. My friend Elsa was always making up plays with her sister, and then performing them for their parents. They even charged admission once. I just wanted — a partner. Anyway, when I was ten, the great miracle happened. My parents told me they were having a baby. They looked like they had been run over by a truck. Definitely an accident. But I didn't care. Accident or not, I was getting a sister. So I planned and I prepared. I secretly spent my allowance money on stuff for the baby — toys, lollipops and even a little pink outfit with lace and ruffles around the collar. I stashed it all away under my bed, just waiting for the big day. Well, of course, it finally arrived. 9 pm, Thursday, March 18. My parents went to the hospital and I went to Elsa's house. Every time the phone rang, my heart skipped a beat. It was the next morning when my father finally called. I heard Elsa's mother — "Oh, that's just so wonderful. And they're both okay? Oh, Lucy will be so excited. Have you chosen a name? Jeffrey. What a beautiful name." Jeffrey? They're naming my sister Jeffrey? How cruel can they be? (a long beat while she mulls this over) Jeffrey is two years old now. He's okay, I guess. One night, when he was still a baby, I snuck into his room and slipped the little pink outfit on him. He looked as cute as a sister. I took a picture, too, so someday, when I really need something from him, I'll have bribery material. Lately, Jeffrey and I have been bonding over Sesame Street. He was really into Big Bird until I explained the finer points of Grover. Now, he's crazy for Grover. He seems to think that I know everything. See... my brother is shaping up to be a pretty good partner.

Audition Information

Students enrolling in PGT Mainstage audition each season. The audition is our opportunity to meet new students and to see how our returning students have grown.

For New Students

We do not expect young actors who are approaching the theatre for the first time to have a professional audition prepared, and we are happy to help guide new students through the process so that they find it less intimidating. We are always happy to meet new young actors who want to give theatre a try and hope that they will not let the audition process scare them away!

For Returning Students

As our students spend time at PGT, and hone their craft, we hope to see more and more sophisticated work from them at their auditions. We hope to see them enter the audition room with increasing confidence, having chosen appropriate audition material and executing it with the skills they have learned in their PGT classes and rehearsals.

For All Students

We are looking for students with enthusiasm and an interest in the collaborative artistic process. At the audition, potential students will let us know whether they have the focus, maturity, creativity and spirit that is needed for PGT MainStage. If, following the audition, we do not believe you will be successful on our MainStage, we may recommend another PGT program or refund any tuition payments you have made.

For the audition, young actors are expected to present a brief monologue and a song (each being 1-2 minutes in length). Students, particularly returning students, are expected to be fully prepared for their audition; audition material should be well rehearsed and committed to memory. Check our audition material page for possible monologues and ideas on where to find monologue collection books. You can also find a helpful list of audition “Do’s and Don’ts” on our audition tips page. If you have questions about preparing your audition, please email Jill at jill@playgroup.org or Rachel at rachel@playgroup.org.

What to Bring

Actors should bring to their audition

sheet music for their song (in the right key), so the musical director can accompany them on the piano.
a current photo of themselves
filled out MainStage paperwork, which you will receive upon registration

PGT Mainstage auditions take place in September for the Fall season, and late January or early February for the Spring season. To register for PGT MainStage, please complete the registration form including audition day/time preferences and fax or mail it in. Registered students will be contacted with their scheduled audition appointment information.