Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Monologue Love

I had a blast at The Simple Thing Monday party
hosted by Christina. I want to thank everyone for
coming over and leaving all these wonderful comments.

I had a whole another post in my mind. I got inspired
by my recent work of finding new monologues.
As some of you know, I now teach acting privately.
I have been searching for new monologues to use for
teaching.

It has been fun. I get monologues from everywhere:
film, tv, books, poems. The more obscure, the better.

I found a slew of great monologues from the Georgia
O' Keefe movie starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons.
And today, I went back to a monologue I had thought
of before and decided to add it my list.
Ain't I Woman
speech from Sojourner Truth.

The best advice about monologues I can give is
make sure it resonates with who you are. And
it should start off strong and be in the active
voice. Especially when auditioning, you have only
a minute or two to wow them. I say come in strong
and end it with them wanting more.

I went on Youtube and found Alfre Woodward, Kerry
Washington, Alice Walker and Cicely Tyson all
doing the speech.

I enjoyed them all. I wanted to share Cicely
performing this.

Enjoy.





Shellsigna

9 comments:

Paula said...

What a treat to come home to tonight! Last year, or maybe the one before, we were in Cincinnati to visit my son and his wife. We ended up, quite by luck, in the most wonderful quilt exhibit by African American women of the area. Oh my god, but the colors and the textures just sang. It was a quiet time for the exhibit, so some of the quilters and I just talked. One of the quilts had famous African American figures and Sojurner was one of them Sadly, I could not take pictures. Thanks for bringing back such wonderful memories! I think I need to go find a good book on Sojurner. The more I hear of her, the more I am fascinated.

Tristan Robin said...

What a coincidence.
I just finished a collage wallhanging with Sojurner on it!
Thanks for posting this video - I'm going to search out the other ones now.
I feel like my art is speaking!

christina said...

cicely is love!
i had so much fun for the simple things!
xo

Caroline said...

Wasn't the simple things lovely? This video is wonderful! Cicely portrays her perfectly! That was a joy to watch.

Operaton You said...

I love "Ain't I a Woman." It's one of my favorite! How are you Ms. Shell? I'm thinking of you and I am excited that you are giving acting lessons privately. Go ahead lady, follow your heart - your soul - your Being - and live fully! With this comes soooo much peace and joy and you know you deserve it!

Creations by Marie Antoinette and Edie Marie said...

Wonderful post Dear,
I love all these stars.They are gorgeous.I saw that you had a picture of Diane Carole.I've always loved her.
XXOO Marie Antionette

Vanessa Brantley Newton said...

What a monolgue!! Every time I see Cicely, I see my mother and grandmother and great grandmother. She is so amazing. How she embodies the characters and brings them to life with her some-kinda art! it's utterly transforming to watch over and over and over again. She makes me feel like I can do anything. I cry when i watch her because I am moved by her spirit and her art. It's some kind of power when you can change the atmosphere and become someone other than yourself and make people feel it to their very soul! How powerful is that??? Thanks so very much for sharing this wonderful,and inspiring peace. It really made my evening!! I wish you the very best in your monologue too. Your the best!

Cheryl Lynn Pastor said...

Brilliant! Simply Brilliant!

Have a wonderful weekend my dear.

tea time and roses said...

Absolutely Wonderful!! Enjoy a lovely weekend my friend.

Smiles...

Beverly

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