Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Monologue Mania Day #1106 Invincible by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 22, 2017

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- -and still going!

            first   year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015  second year -  Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016  third year -  Feb. 13, 2016 -  today!           *********                                                        
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues- for a list of the titles and blurbs from each                                                                                                                                              day, click here  There are now over 1100!
Get  more great  award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
 If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -   
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site.  Wishing you much success!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Monologue Mania Day #1106 Invincible by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 22, 2017
                                   Invincible
                                                  
                                                   A monologue by  (c) 2017
                                                    by Janet S. Tiger

        (The older black woman is smiling, she takes a cigar and lights it, then puffs)

 Are you done?  I listened.  Lotta complaints.  How I'm too loud and too obnoxious, and I ride the kids too hard, and push them and make them work on the weekends so they don't get a chance to play in the street with all their friends who are gonna end up in jobs at the Walmart.

 How I make them spell their reports correctly, and print out new pages until every single page looks good - no errors!  No mistakes!

 How I cuss at them when they talk back to me and how I threaten them with bodily harm if they do not treat each with respect!  How they hate me because I force them to do their best and will put up with none of their bullshit.....because in these big city competitions, bullshit does not win!

 Yeah, you got a lot of complaints, but I want you to think about one thing, Miss Smarty-Pants with the big Sociology degree.  When they started, they were nothing.  They were one step from Juvie, and I don't give a crap if they hate me.....all I ever cared about was that they hated me TOGETHER!  They have a common enemy - ME!  And I use that like the crushing power that turns pieces of carbon ....into diamonds....

          (Looks closely at the other person)

 You know honey, do you even know how diamonds are made?  I mean, you are in the (says it with disdain) Social Sciences, so do you know about science?  Real science?

         (She goes to a bookshelf, looks, then pulls out a book, opens and points)

 Here, learn something.....it'll teach you about the (laughs) 'diamond-producing bowels of the earth... where graphite, yeah, the common, everyday stuff in a No. 2 pencil which is made out of pure carbon!..  where carbon is subjected to intense heat and pressure.....and it becomes the hardest material in the world...the word it comes from in Greek and Latin....means .invincible.....do you hear that?........where carbon is subjected to intense heat and pressure.....that would be me, honey.....and turned into....diamonds!

 Because of all the people they have ever met before me.....their fathers who they mostly never met, and their mothers who left them in garbage pails, their teachers who ignore them......I am the only one that believes that, underneath those tattoos and piercings and attitude there is a diamond ready to be seen.....(takes a deep breath, shakes head, stubs out cigar).so you think I care what YOU think!

          (Turns to leave, stops, looks back)

 HA!

           (Leaves laughing.  End of scene)
----------------------------------------------
More info on how artificial diamonds are made see Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond

---------------------------------------
* Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315                CaregiversAnon.org
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------------















Posted by at 1 comment:

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Monologue Mania Day #1105 Cancelled by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 21, 2017

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- -and still going!

            first   year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015  second year -  Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016  third year -  Feb. 13, 2016 -  today!           *********                                                        
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues- for a list of the titles and blurbs from each                                                                                                                                              day, click here  There are now over 1100!
Get  more great  award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
 If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -   
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site.  Wishing you much success!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Monologue Mania Day #1105 Cancelled by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 21, 2017
                                     Cancelled
                                                  
                                                 (c) 2017   A monologue by
                                                    by Janet S. Tiger

           (Actor enters, drenched to the bone, looks around, knocks on the door)

Hello?  Hello?  Where is everybody?  It's pouring out here!  Come on!  I'm only five minutes late, you can't have started, this never starts on time!

          (Pounds)

Let me in!  I brought the damned refreshments! The first time in 20 years I bring refreshments!  So open the door!

         (Pounds, starting to get desperate)

 I had to drive thirty minutes in the pouring rain and the freeway was shut down because of fallen trees and I had to take a detour and if you idiots think this is funny, then you're bigger jackasses than I ever thought!  I hate you all and I quit this stupid club!

        (Hits door, then jumps back)

What the hell!  Who puts a nail on a door?  Wait a minute....what's this.....

       (Notices something on the ground, lifts a very wet paper, reads with difficulty)

Due to inclement weather and a police advisory, for the first time in 20 years, this meeting has been cancelled.

        (Turns to leave, stops looks back)

If that's the way it is....then this monologue is cancelled, too!

        (Exits to return another night)
-------------------------------------------------

In dubious honor of the first cancelled Scripteaser reading in history!  
---------------------------------------
* Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315                CaregiversAnon.org
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------------














Posted by at 1 comment:

Monday, February 20, 2017

Monologue Mania Day #1104 The Joy of Pain by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 20, 2017

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- -and still going!

            first   year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015  second year -  Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016  third year -  Feb. 13, 2016 -  today!           *********                                                        
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues- for a list of the titles and blurbs from each                                                                                                                                              day, click here  There are now over 1090!
Get  more great  award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
 If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site.  Wishing you much success!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Monologue Mania Day #1104 The Joy of Pain by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 20, 2017
                                             The Joy of Pain
                                                 (for Caregivers Anonymous)
                                              by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 20, 2017
                                                  
                                                 (c) 2017   A monologue by
                                                    by Janet S. Tiger

        (The woman is very unassuming, not shy, but very quiet.  She stands to address the others)

I have a confession.  (quickly)  No, it's not that I hurt someone I took care of, heaven forbid even thinking about that!  No, but I just went to a movie, and I got there before my friend, and it was getting close to the time, so I texted her that I'd be in the theater, and went to look for my movie.  Oh my, it's been so long since I went, now there are so many theaters....so I found it!  Or so I thought. And I went to sit down and the movie started and...Oh!.  I was in the wrong theater!

       (She puts her hands to her cheeks)

I mean, I knew there were movies like that, but I never thought I'd actually watch one!  Horrifying! S and M!   Even the name of what they do is frightening...sado- masochism!

Well, here's the thing about having watched even just a bit....and no, Clark, I am not interested in something strange - or in your case, even listening to your strange!

No, I  realized that, surprisingly enough....I just might be.... a masochist!   Not with the whips and chains and funny costumes, but  I guess I'm a person who likes pain, and well, I don't really like pain, but I put up with it for....most of my life, because, I like what I get out of it....I like what I get out.. of caregiving

So painful, so much of the days....and nights.  Taking care of first my little brother, then my mom and dad, and my kids, and uncle and aunt, and now .....Now I get paid for the people I take care of, but it's all the same.....you love the people.  You can't help it.  Taking care of another person's body, and talking to them all day, for weeks on end when the family goes on a cruise......and then you get to make that person smile, and you listen to stories about times ya never heard about before....and you learn things, those are the gifts you get.....and then you get, the pain.  When they ....go downhill....or get so bad they need more than you can give....or when they ...pass on.

There's a powerful pain!  I mean, it hurts very deep - and I suppose, that in its own way, that pain has a touch of pleasure, because to forget how much it hurts, I think of the blessings of caring for these people and I .....feel good again.

          (Turns to sit down, stops, looks back, then up)

But I still don't like those outfits!

          (Sits as the others laugh)


  

---------------------------------------
* Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315                CaregiversAnon.org
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------------













Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Monologue Mania Day #1103 Revision by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 19, 2017

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- -and still going!

            first   year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015  second year -  Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016  third year -  Feb. 13, 2016 -  today!           *********                                                        
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues- for a list of the titles and blurbs from each                                                                                                                                              day, click here  There are now over 1090!
Get  more great  award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
 If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site.  Wishing you much success!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Monologue Mania Day #1103 Revision by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 19, 2017
                                  Revision
                                                  (c) 2017   A monologue by
                                                    by Janet S. Tiger

       (The author is out onstage again - would someone get a hook please?)

Okay, this is interesting.  I thought I would take a day off, but somehow, I had to make some changes.  Okay, a major change - at the beginning of the play.  I bring in a character from later in the script and have him there at the very start - three lines in- because after seeing the actor do the part, I wanted him to be able to be seen onstage throughout the play, not just for half.

The joy of actors!  I watch my words come alive, and suddenly, I realize I want more for that actor, and that means more for the character.  Another actor reads his lines, and suddenly, there are laughs where I never thought there would be any - and they are good laughs.  So I move lines around to give more laughs.

And yet a different character, I feel I haven't done justice to the monologue, the end makes no sense, because I cut it badly.  So I rip out the stitches and sew it up, hoping this edit will fix the problem.  I will hear it next week - and I can barely wait.

How do they do it?  They go over the lines, searching for meaning that I never realized was there.  And they go over and over and over.....my ears are tired, how do they do it?  And with such energy! I want to lie down, but they keep going, learning blocking that changes with each new version of the script.  Almost like learning a new language.  Every day!

And it is my fault, because this is a new play, a new way of looking at a very old topic.  Taking care. Adam and Eve.  Now you can argue the feminist issues, and discuss the existential factors, or examine how sex affected everything....but the bottom line is that  God didn't want Adam to be alone, so he gave him Eve.  Someone to take care of him.  That ended up with Adam having to help take care of Eve - the two taking care of each other.  The basic idea being, that if you save one person, you save the world, because at one time, there was only one person.  But you can extrapolate that to take care of someone....feels like taking care of the world.

So I take care of the characters of the play.......some might argue that we playwrights really just want to...play God!  and maybe there's a few grains of truth in that, but maybe we just want to ....see things in a new way.

        (Turns to leave, stops, looks back)


....there's a word for that.....re-vision......revision.....hope it's better.....

        (Exits to more revising!)

---------------------------------------
* Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315                CaregiversAnon.org
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------------












Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Monologue Mania Day #1102 Thank You Notes by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 18, 2017

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- -and still going!

            first   year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015  second year -  Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016  third year -  Feb. 13, 2016 -  today!           *********                                                        
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues- for a list of the titles and blurbs from each                                                                                                                                              day, click here  There are now over 1090!
Get  more great  award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
 If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site.  Wishing you much success!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Monologue Mania Day #1102 Thank You Notes by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 18, 2017

                                  Thank You Notes
                                                     A monologue by
                                                    by Janet S. Tiger

         (The writer - yes, me! - comes out onstage)

My mother did many wonderful things for me over my life - too many to recount actually, although I have to say I truly appreciated her shopping for my bathing suits as I got busier with my family.  She is now 90 - 91 in two days - and I can no longer rely on her for swim attire.  A blouse, perhaps, and a dress or two, but the bathing suits....well, I digress.  Much as I loved not having to search for suits, I feel that one of the most important things she did for me was instill in me the importance of....the thank you note.

From an early age, I had to tell her why I liked a present.  She would print this out on a card, and I had to sign my name to it.  Until I could write the whole note, and then ...I was on my own!  Growed up!  Able to say thank you without being reminded!  Okay, maybe reminded.  Maybe nagged.

But over the years, I realized that thankfulness is like any other skill.....when practiced, it gets stronger.  So now I find I am grateful every day, almost all day, because I have so very much to be thankful for - a healthy body, a wonderful family, fantastic friends, and now, tonight, a new play.  Brought to life in a staged reading by an amazing team - for which I am so very thankful.

 Plus - in true theater style, one of the actors came down with strep throat yesterday, so actor Taylor Wycoff jumped in and the whole cast pulled together around her - truly a team effort - a big thank you to all - the actors, the director, the production manager....my first intern!  The staff at Playwrights Project, The San Diego Foundation, the lovely folks - Alice and Doug, who enabled this to happen at their spiritual home, The First Unitarian Universalist  Church....and the audience of friends, family and strangers! - that braved the rain to watch a new play and give me feedback - I thank them all, with my words, and my heart.

For this play is about caring, and when we care, I feel the essence is in thankfulness - we are thankful the person is still with us, thankful we can help.  Thankful for every small success.....and when we lose someone we have cared for....we are thankful for the time we had together, the love and the shared memories....the life.

So I thank all those involved with this project- and all those who have helped me get to this time.

And I am not turning to leave, stopping and looking back, I am going to stand here, and say a great big THANK YOU!

           (Now I get to exit - but with a big smile and heart full of gratitude!)

---------------------------------------
* Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315                CaregiversAnon.org
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------------











Posted by at 1 comment:

Friday, February 17, 2017

Monologue Mania Day #1101 Final Story by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 17, 2017

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- -and still going!

            first   year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015  second year -  Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016  third year -  Feb. 13, 2016 -  today!           *********                                                        
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues- for a list of the titles and blurbs from each                                                                                                                                              day, click here  There are now over 1090!
Get  more great  award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
 If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site.  Wishing you much success!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Monologue Mania Day #1101 Final Story by Janet S. Tiger (c) Feb. 17, 2017

                                     Final Story
                                                     A monologue by
                                                    by Janet S. Tiger

           (The actor is mulling something, finally looks up and opens eyes wide)

You may have known this, but I have traveled far in my time.  When I was young, a friend and I went to Europe and we bought a used VW van and toured Europe on what was the book?  Five dollars a day?  We did it on no dollars a day!  Gas was cheap, people still liked Americans, it was an amazing year.

The stories I heard!  Even in other languages, a story is still a story.

Then we came home, and broke up and went our separate ways.  And I kept moving around.  On buses, and trains, and when I could afford it, automobiles.  Never planes, not because I'm afraid, but because a plane ride, how many hours is that?  One?  Four?  Maybe six?  But a bus trip cross this great land!  Oh, my!  Sharing not a tiny bathroom and an armrest, but the freeways and the scenery, and the rest stops and the crazy driver who gets lost!  Now that is a trip!

Sometimes you get not just one story, but a whole bunch....and I have to say, I am good at collecting stories.....people get a funny look when they are about to tell you something they may never have told anyone before.  Are they telling the truth?  Usually.  I'm a stranger.  Why would I tell anyone?  How would we ever meet again?

          (Takes a flask out of a pocket and swigs)

Out of all the tales, and confessions, and every type of giggling, drunken heartfelt talk, not one person ever confessed to .....a murder.  Now I spoke to many soldiers, and some felt they had done wrong by killing in a war, but that's not what I mean.

A person who actually planned and carried out the physical killing of another human.  Not by accident, like the drunk drivers cry about, but by design, by decision, by evil in the heart.

I always wondered what I would do if anyone ever confessed to a murder......but now, I don't have to wonder.....because  no one ever confessed...Until you.

         (Turns to leave, stops, looks back)

But we're never gonna meet again....are we?

         (Exits....for now)





---------------------------------------
* Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315                CaregiversAnon.org
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------------












Posted by at No comments:
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