My Monologue So Far...

 Life in the west isn’t a very easy one. But daddy always told me to just suck it up. So I did. Well, at least I think I did. Lots of stuff happened before ya’ll showed up. Daddy always told me to never to talk to people like you; that you would take me away from momma, daddy, Little Mikey, and Bobo. Well, now that he’s not here, I guess I could tell you. But Daddy’s not going to be very happy when he finds out that I told ya’ll. Well, I guess I should start from the very day that I was born which was April 17, 1987. I remember because every year, I would be allowed to go outside and play with Bobo in the field. It always happened on the same day every year, and it was the only day during the year that I was allowed outside. I was born in the back of the barn, little Mikey would tell me. He was about 15 years old when I came along. He told me that momma was alone in the barn, and then came out with me wrapped in an old blanket. She named me Bessie after her favorite milking cow. But, my daddy never called me Bessie. He didn’t like the name that momma gave me. So he just called me little bitch…

It isn't close to being finished because the story hasn't really progressed. This is really just the introduction. Hopefully when someone reads this, they will hint towards the father being abusive and of a broken home. In the body of this monologue will talk about the father beating her mother to death and also shooting her older brother Little Mickey.  I am slightly worried about this monologue getting longer than 2 minutes and I don't want it to just drag on. I may have to make some cuts to the intro in order to leave enough room for the story to develop and conclude, even though the conclusion will be very short. I want the speaker of this monologue, who is a young girl, to sound very innocent and to be unaware that what her father is doing to her and her family is horribly wrong. And that the audience will immediately feel a hatred towards the father for his abusive treatment of his family. But, then again, I want to somehow 'justify' his actions by somehow incorporating how he did not know any better...I don't think I will have enough time during my presentation to add this bit, but it is what I would like to have written in my final monologue. But if needed, I will cut it short for the sake of the time restriction of this assignment. 

Great Monologues

When I was doing my research for this project, I wanted to find some good examples for reference since I have no experience writing monologues. So I did what most people do and typed "Best Monologues" into Google and the first two links that I was given was "Best Monologues for Women" and "Men's Best Monologues". So, out of curiosity, I clicked on the Men's one first, and started reading about James Joyce. But, I wanted to find monologues that had been done recently, so I clicked on a link that said "Best Film Speeches and Monologues" and started looking around the different styled monologues. Then, I came across one from the movie called "Precious" and read the monologue called "Who was gonna love me?" I had already seen the movie and remember how dramatic this monologue was and how it made me actually feel sorrow for the mother that I had grown to hate throughout most of the movie. It should that the mom had no choice but to be the enemy, but it made me realize why she did the things she did. It was all because of how she felt and how broken she was on the inside. This fits perfectly with the monologue that we have been asked to write since the focus should be human rights. And this monologue is about an abusive husband and father within a broken home. This helped me see the power of monologues and made me appreciate them more. This is truly a beautiful monologue.

"Precious was a little girl...She was three, and I had been givin' her the bottle. And I was givin' Carl the tittie because my milk hadn't dried up in my breasts. But not from her, but because Carl was - because Carl was suckin' on that, and that's what kept my milk in my breasts. And I thought that was for hygiene. I did what my momma told me that I was supposed to do with my child, so that's what I did. And you're sittin' up there, and you're tryin' to judge me...But Ms. Weiss, I don't like you lookin' at me like that. You got this bitch lookin' at me like I'm some kind of a f--kin' monster...I didn't want her suckin' behind him, because that was nasty, and the things that he was...it was just nasty, Ms. Weiss."

"I-I, I had a man and I have a child. And I had to take care of both of them. Okay? Did I want Carl to touch my baby? Because I would lay my baby, I would lay her on the side of me on this pillow. And it was pink and it had this little white writin' on it and it had her name, 'cause she was Precious. And I would lay my baby on that pillow. And Carl would be laying on the other side. And then we would, we would, uh, start doing it and he reached over and he touched my baby. And I asked him, I said, Carl what are you doin'? And he told me to shut, to shut my fat ass up and it was good for her.... I shut my fat ass up."

"And I don't want you to sit there and judge me, Ms. Weiss...(hysterically) I did not want him to abuse my daughter. I did not want him to hurt her. I did not want him to do nothin' to her. I wanted him to make love to me. That was my man. That was my f--kin' man. That was my man and he wanted my daughter. And that's why I hated her because it was my man who was supposed to be lovin' me, who was supposed to be makin' love to me, he was f--kin' my baby. And she made him leave, she made him go away.... It was Precious' fault because she let my man have her and she didn't say nothin'. She didn't scream, she didn't do nothin'."

"So those things that she told you I did to her, who, who, who else was gonna love me? Hmm? Since you got your degree and you know every f--kin' thing, who was gonna love me? Who, who was gonna make me feel good? Who was gonna touch me and make me feel good like that? And she made him go away. So, when you sit there and you write them f--kin' notes on your pad about who you think I am and why I did it and all of that... Because I'm in hell."

Link to the Monologue on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L26bnfsPb2A&feature=related

Great Improv Games from Whose Line is it Anyway?

What makes good Improv

The first thing that comes to mind about good improv is creativity. A good improv presentation has several good ideas mixed into one presentation. Without creativity or ideas, improv falls flat. Another important aspect is listening to your team mates. If an idea is given and no one recieves it, people stand around looking at each other wondering what they should do. I have experienced this various times when we are doing the improv games in class. I will not listen to other peoples ideas and build on them, and then other people will not build on the ideas that I give, even if they aren't that good. But once the idea is recieved, then it can be built on to make it a better idea, or it will give enough time to the team to think of a better idea. Improv is not something that can be easily done. Because of being taught that their is always a right and wrong answer, people get scared of giving ideas because they don't want to be stared at for saying the wrong answer or giving out a bad idea. There can be either a lot of confidence in a group, or a lot of fear of running out of ideas, but once the team realizes that even though their only idea is a bad one, if they work with it, they can build on it and either make it better, or think of another idea. Once you get the hang of improv, it becomes second nature. But its getting the hang of it thats the hardest part. I personally have noticed how I am mostly instilled by fear and do not have a lot of confidence when it comes to acting. I am good and doing things by the book, such as following a script, or paying attention to detail when it comes to staging. But creativity is something hard for me because I have been taught not only in school, but also in church that their is a right and wrong answer. My biggest challenge for this unit of improv will be breaking out of that mentality of having bad ideas or that their is only one right answer. Once I am out of that mentality, improv will become much easier for me.