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Sunday, October 8, 2017

NYCPlaywrights Write a Monologue for Me project selections

NYCPlaywrights received 55 submissions to the WaM4M project and it was hard to pick only three, but finally we did:
  • HOW TO MANAGE YOUR STRESS by S. L. Daniels
  • MONOLOGUE FOR TONY WHITE by Laszlo Zsolt Fulop
  • PERSON OF GREAT INTEREST by Lucy Wang
Of the three, Tony selected MONOLOGUE FOR TONY WHITE to record. We will be posting the video on the NYCPlaywrights web site soon.

Thanks to everybody who participated in this installment of WaM4M. We will be presenting the next actor looking for a monologue very soon.

The playwrights have kindly permitted NYCPlaywrights to share their work on this web site. If you would like permission to perform any of the monologues or reproduce them for any reason, please contact the author directly via the email address at the beginning of each script.


ABOUT THE SCRIPTS

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR STRESS (click to view as a PDF)

S. L. Daniels writes:
Dark comedy is my happy place, so when I saw that Tony White liked it too, I wanted to write something for him. I was thinking about Tony, his face, he has such a lovely calm look, and so my first thought was “stress.”

S. L. Daniels' short and full-­length plays have been produced in theatres in around the world, including in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and Melbourne. Credits also include: Winner of the Hurricane Season Award (Los Angeles), the Illinois Artist Award for Playwriting, Oxford Short Play Competition, Samuel French One-­Act Competition, Seven Devils Playwriting Conference, and finalist for the Cunningham Prize, the O'Neill Conference, and Actors Theatre of Louisville's Heidemann Award. Television work includes episodes for Nelvana Productions, HBO IND/FOX TV, and a pilot for NBC. Thank you to NYCPlaywrights for being such an amazing site!!


MONOLOGUE FOR TONY WHITE (click to view as PDF)

Laszlo writes:
I was working on a full-length play script about an immigrant who is an engineer. The play starts with a monologue. That's when I saw the ad about the "Write a Monologue for Me" project and I thought I could send in this monologue. But it didn't work because the original monologue was an introduction to a piece and didn't stand well in itself. I could use only a few sentences from that monologue. So I started thinking about what is a "theatrical" space, when one is "on stage" in front of an audience. And there should be a lot at stake for those involved, especially the "actor." The execution/death penalty came to mind. There is a lot--everything--at stake for the "actor," who is actually not an actor at all since he or she doesn't have any agency any more. Looking at it with a European eye, the death penalty is an outmoded, cruel, inhumane form of justice-making. But I didn't want to make it political. All I wanted is to give a little bit of "agency" to the "actor" in this paradox situation. 
Laszlo Zsolt Fulop is an immigrant. He was born and raised by Hungarian parents in the Transylvanian region of Romania under Ceausecu's dictatorship. He teaches film- and theater-related subjects at the University of New Orleans. 

PERSON OF GREAT INTEREST (click to view as PDF)

Lucy writes:
My monologue was inspired by my effort to sell my 2003 Porsche Boxster, which I named the "Silver Menace."  A trainer from my gym said he might know a buyer.  I showed the trainer my car, and he was impressed by its great condition and very low mileage. He seemed genuinely taken with the car, so I said, "Maybe you want to buy it. How about taking a spin in my Boxster S?"  The trainer, who is African-American, immediately responded.  "Are you kidding?  Have you seen GET OUT? If we go riding in this car together, the police will arrest me for kidnapping you. If I take your car out myself, the police will arrest me for grand theft auto. I can't buy your Porsche, I'm black!"  He had me in stitches because it was hilarious, and often the best comedy reflects uncomfortable elements of truth.
Lucy Wang writes, teaches and performs. She recently performed IT AIN'T EASY BEING CHINESEY in PanAsian Rep's NuWork Festival 2017. You can see excerpts of her show CHINESE GIRLS DON'T SWEAR, performed in NY, L.A. and Akron, OH, here: https://youtu.be/IbcqZCYZbik Her plays have been performed all over, and are available at Original Works Publishing, JAC Publishing, Amazon, and YouthPLAYS. Wang has also written two short films (one of which she directed), and sold a pilot to Disney. Her awards include the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, Best New Political Social Play from the Katherine and Lee Chilcote Foundation, Berrilla Kerr Foundation, James Thurber Fellowship, CAPE’s New Writers TV Award, NATPE Diversity Fellow, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Honorary Fellow, Annenberg Community Beach House Writer in Residence. She currently teaches at www.escriptws.com and writes for American Journal of Nursing.

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