Contemporary American Monologues for Men

Todd London

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781559361347
• eBook ISBN: 9781559367622
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: American Drama

Audition monologues for male characters selected from recent works by American playwrights including Tony Kushner, Jon Robin Baitz, Constance Congdon, Paula Vogel, Donald Margulies, Emily Mann, Eric Bogosian, Nicky Silver, and others. Unique to the TCG monologue series is a bibliography of other works by the playwrights included.

VI

“I THOUGHT OF KILLING PEOPLE”

STILL LIFE

BY EMILY MANN

Mark, an ex-Marine, still carries the violence he experienced and committed in Vietnam. It erupts in his marriage to Cheryl, whom, despite his love, he sometimes beats. His active violence also plays out in his artwork—the remnants of bones and battle memorabilia he seals in jar sculptures and the horrific photographs he shows to the audience in this direct-address, testimonial-style play.

MARK:

I thought of killing people when I got back.

I went to a party with a lady, Cheryl, you know,

later we got married—

She was into seeing people who were into LSD.

And I had tried a little acid this night,

but I wasn’t too fucked-up.

And we went to this party.

And there was this big guy.

I was with a friend of mine who tried to rip him off,

or something like that.

He said, the big guy said:

Get the fuck out of here

or I’ll take this fucking baseball bat

and split your head wide open.

I started to size up what my options were.

In a split second, I knew I could have him.

He had a baseball bat,

but there was one of these long glass Coke bottles.

I knew . . . Okay, I grabbed that.

I moved toward him, to stick it in his face.

I mean, I killed him.

I mean in my mind.

I cut his throat and everything.

My wife saw this and grabbed me.

I couldn’t talk to anybody the rest of the night.

I sat and retained the tension and said:

“I want to kill him.”

They had to drive me home.

It was only the third time I’d been out with my wife.

It wasn’t till the next day that I really got shook by it.

My wife said,

“Hey, cool your jets.”

She’d say, “Hey, don’t do things like that.

You’re not over there anymore.

Settle down, it’s all right.”

I think my wife’s scared of me.

STILL LIFE

BY EMILY MANN

Mark’s confession reveals something of the anger, guilt and terror that propel him so violently through civilian life. Nadine, mentioned here, is an older woman artist, his mistress.

MARK:

I . . . killed three children, a mother and father in cold blood.

I killed three children, a mother and father.

I killed them with a pistol in front of a lot of people.

I demanded something from the parents and then

systematically destroyed them.

And that’s . . .

that’s the heaviest part of what I’m carrying around.

You know about it now, a few other people know about it,

My wife knows about it, Nadine knows about it,

and nobody else knows about it.

For the rest of my life . . .

I have a son . . .

He’s going to die for what I’ve done.

This is what I’m carrying around;

that’s what this logic is about with my children.

A friend hit a booby trap.

And these people knew about it.

I knew they knew.

I knew that they were working with the VC infrastructure.

I demanded that they tell me.

They wouldn’t say anything.

I just wanted them to confess before I killed them.

And they wouldn’t.

So I killed their children

and then I killed them.

I was angry.

I was angry with all the power I had.

I couldn’t beat them.

They beat me.

I lost friends in my unit . . .

I did wrong.

People in the unit watched me kill them.

Some of them tried to stop me.

I don’t know.

I can’t, . . . Oh, God . . .

A certain amount of stink

went all the way back to the rear.

I almost got into a certain amount of trouble.

It was all rationalized,

that there was a logic behind it.

But they knew.

And everybody who knew had a part in it.

There was enough evidence,

but it wasn’t a very good image to put out

in terms of . . .

the marines overseas, so nothing happened.

I have a child . . .

a child who passed through the age

that the little child was.

My son . . . my son

wouldn’t know the difference between a VC and a marine.

ASSASSINS

BY STEPHEN SONDHEIM AND JOHN WEIDMAN

One of a gallery of fourteen Americans who have tried, successfully or un-, to assassinate a president, Sam Byck hijacked a 747, which he hoped to crash into the White House when President Nixon was home. He outlines his complaints and ideas onto tapes that he sends to famous cultural figures. Here, he speaks to Leonard Bernstein. Throughout this musical, Byck appears in a Santa Claus suit, carrying a picket sign.

SAM BYCK: Hey, I know what you’re thinking. Who the hell is Sam Byck with his fat ass and his tongue on rye to give a shit hot guy such as yourself advice? Well, Lenny, it’s a fact that my unwillingness to compromise my principles and kiss ass like some people I could mention has cost me the so-called good life w...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• Introduction
• An Actor Chooses
• I. “I was just thinking about my father . . .”
• II. “A man who loves his work”
• III. “I’m dying, that’s what’s wrong”
• IV. “Description of the so-called Venus”
• V. “My shit’s intense”
• VI. “I thought of killing people”
• VII. “God’s lightning opens up the ground”
• VIII. “We are the master race”
• IX. WOMBmanWARs
• X. “Thuh children”
• XI. “Nothing left but to run”
• XII. “Will the past release us?”
• XIII. “Now tell me what it means”
• XIV. “It’s time we go our separate ways”
• XV. “I choose not to be inconsolable”
• Further Reading