"This collection has a simple aim: to make matches. You're an actor searching for the right monologue--for auditions or acting class--and here are the cuttings from dozends of the most exciting American plays...The material might be said to be searching, too. It's on the lookout for actors who will connect deeply, who have the emotional availability and the craft to deliver these monologues into the world with their complexity intact. It seeks actors who think on their feet, who understand in their bodies the impression contemporary life makes on a character. Like any matchmaker, though, this book offers only an introduction. The work is left to you."
--from the introduction by Todd London
Selected monologues from the works of: Jon Robin Baitz, Eric Bogosian, Lee Breuer, Constance Congdon, E.L. Doctorow, Richard Foreman, Maria Irene Fornes, Philip Kan Gotanda, Spalding Gray, David Greenspan, William H. Hoffman, Tina Howe, Judith Alexa Jackson, John Jesurun, Adrienne Kennedy, Harry Kondoleon, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Eduardo Machado, Emily Mann, Donald Margulies, Marsha Norman, John O'Keefe, Suzan-Lori Parks, Reynolds Price, Ronald Ribman, Jose Rivera, Milcha Sanchez-Scott, Nicky Silver, Stephen Sondheim, Paula Vogel, and John Weidman.