A curated library for actors, drama students, and audition prep — every piece is rehearsable in your browser.
Choosing the right audition monologue is the single highest-leverage decision in your audition prep. Casting directors decide whether you are interesting in the first thirty seconds, and the material you bring is half of that read. We have curated the monologues on this page specifically for audition use: each one is in the public domain (so you can use it commercially), the right length for almost every audition brief (60–180 seconds), and varied in tone so you can pick what matches the role you are reading for.
from The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell • Oscar Wilde
from As You Like It
Jaques • William Shakespeare
from Othello
Iago • William Shakespeare
from King Lear
King Lear • William Shakespeare
from The Seagull
Trigorin • Anton Chekhov
from Romeo and Juliet
Juliet • William Shakespeare
from The Merchant of Venice
Shylock • William Shakespeare
from The Seagull
Nina • Anton Chekhov
from The Seagull
Nina • Anton Chekhov
from A Midsummer Night's Dream
Bottom • William Shakespeare
from A Midsummer Night's Dream
Oberon • William Shakespeare
from Pygmalion
Eliza Doolittle • George Bernard Shaw
from A Midsummer Night's Dream
Puck • William Shakespeare
from Othello
Othello • William Shakespeare
from The Glass Menagerie
Amanda • Tennessee Williams
from A Streetcar Named Desire
Blanche DuBois • Tennessee Williams
from Saint Joan
Joan • George Bernard Shaw
from Prometheus Bound
Prometheus • Aeschylus
from Twelfth Night
Viola • William Shakespeare
from The Glass Menagerie
Tom • Tennessee Williams
from As You Like It
Rosalind • William Shakespeare
from Miss Julie
Miss Julie • August Strindberg
from Richard III
Richard III • William Shakespeare
from Electra
Electra • Sophocles
from Henry V
Henry V • William Shakespeare
from The Tempest
Prospero • William Shakespeare
from The Taming of the Shrew
Katherine • William Shakespeare
from Arms and the Man
Raina • George Bernard Shaw
from The Merchant of Venice
Portia • William Shakespeare
from Macbeth
Lady Macbeth • William Shakespeare
from A Doll's House
Nora • Henrik Ibsen
from Hamlet
Ophelia • William Shakespeare
from King Lear
Edmund • William Shakespeare
from Hamlet
Hamlet • William Shakespeare
from Macbeth
Macbeth • William Shakespeare
from Antigone
Antigone • Sophocles
from Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler • Henrik Ibsen
from Uncle Vanya
Sonya • Anton Chekhov
from Pygmalion
Henry Higgins • George Bernard Shaw
Most audition briefs ask for one of three things: a one-minute contemporary monologue, a two-minute classical piece, or a contrasting pair. Our short and medium-length pieces fit the one-minute brief cleanly. Anything tagged classical or Shakespeare works for the two-minute classical brief. If you are preparing a contrasting pair, pick one comedic and one dramatic from the same era so the two pieces feel deliberately chosen rather than randomly stitched together.
Beyond length, what casting directors look for is specificity. The monologue should ask something of you that the role asks of you. If you are reading for a high-stakes courtroom drama, do not bring a wistful coming-of-age piece. If you are reading for a quirky indie comedy, do not bring Hamlet's soliloquy. Use the filters below — gender, tone, length, playwright — to find pieces that line up with the role you are actually pursuing.
Every monologue on this page links to a dedicated practice page. Pick your character, pick one of our twenty AI scene partner voices for any other characters in the scene, and rehearse the piece in your browser. The audio is high-quality ElevenLabs voices — not robotic text-to-speech — so you can practice the rhythm of the scene with believable scene partners even when you are alone.