# Can You Use a Monologue From the Play You're Auditioning For? > Usually not, unless the notice or the director asks for it. Why audition guides warn against the show's own speeches, the exceptions, how to read a notice that wants material from the show, and how to pick a piece from the same world instead. Worked on The Importance of Being Earnest. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/monologue-from-the-play-youre-auditioning-for - Published: 2026-11-08 - Last updated: 2026-11-08 You've loved this play for years. Now your local theater is doing it, the notice says "prepare a one-minute monologue", and the speech you already know by heart is sitting right there in Act 2. It's the part you want. It's the speech that shows exactly why you'd be good in it. Why wouldn't you just do that? Because many audition guides ask you not to make that choice. It's not a law, and it isn't always wrong. But it's a common rule in audition guides, and the reasons behind it are worth knowing before you walk in. The short version: don't use a monologue from the show you're auditioning for unless the notice or the director asks you to. Read the play, work out its world (the writer, the period, the humor, the kind of language), and bring a speech from a different play that lives in that world. Save the show's own words for the sides and the callback, where they'll often hand them to you anyway. ## The usual rule: material from a different show The rule turns up again and again in audition guidance from theaters and schools. Yale College Arts puts it in its list of things not to do: using an audition monologue or song from the show you're auditioning for. Its [audition advice](https://collegearts.yale.edu/node/29451) adds the key condition: *unless specifically told to do otherwise*, pick material from a different show. Community and youth theaters say the same thing. The [San Carlos Children's Theater audition tips](https://sancarloschildrenstheater.com/audition-tips/) tell actors not to choose a song or monologue from the show unless they've been specifically asked to. [Solano College Theatre](https://www.solanocollegetheatre.org/sct-blog/auditioning-for-a-play) gives the same advice for plays, with one exception: a piece the director recommended or suggested. Notice what these have in common. None of them says it's forbidden everywhere. They all say the default is a different play, and the exception comes from the people running the audition, not from you. ## Why directors would rather see something else The guides state the rule more often than they explain it, so here is the usual reasoning. - **They already have the role in their head.** The director has been living with this play for months. When you do a speech from it, you're performing against their picture of the scene, and it's very hard to win that comparison in one minute. - **You're compared with everyone else who did it.** If the speech is the obvious one from the show, other actors may bring it too. Now the panel is watching versions of the same moment instead of seeing who you are. - **You may box yourself into one part.** A speech from the show says "cast me as this character". The director might see you for a role you haven't considered, and a piece from outside the play leaves that door open. - **They'll see you in the real text anyway.** If they want to know how you handle the play's own words, they'll give you sides or bring you back for a callback. The general audition is where they learn something else about you. That last point matters most. Robin Murray, producing artistic director of Cultural Park Theatre in Cape Coral, Florida, put the split simply in a [WGCU interview about auditions](https://www.wgcu.org/arts-and-culture/2026-09-16/the-monologue-is-like-an-actors-first-handshake-with-a-casting-director): the monologue shows them an actor's range, and the sides show whether the actor can carry a character. She calls the monologue *the first handshake that you're giving a director*. If the show's own speech is the handshake, you've spent your one chance at range on something they were going to test you on later. ## The exceptions: when the show's own words are right Sometimes the people casting want exactly that speech. Read the notice slowly, and look for these cases. ### The notice asks for it Some notices say "prepare one of the following speeches from the play" or list a cut of the text. That's an instruction, so follow it, and use their cut rather than your own. The rule is about guessing, and here nobody is asking you to guess. ### The director suggested it In a school or a company where you know the director, they may tell you to bring a particular speech. Solano's guidance carves out exactly that case. If the suggestion came in person or by email, it's fine to say so when you introduce the piece, so nobody wonders why you broke the usual rule. ### The audition is sides only Some auditions skip monologues altogether. The University of Washington's [auditioning glossary](https://drama.washington.edu/auditioning-glossary) defines sides as pages from a scene in the play, which you usually perform with another actor, and says callbacks often bring material from the show. If the notice says "sides will be provided", you don't need a monologue at all. Your job is to read the whole play so the pages make sense when you get them. ### It's a callback Callbacks are where the show's own text lives. If you were sent pages to prepare, work those, not a monologue. If you're unsure whether to bring your monologue again, bring it and don't offer it unless asked. When the instructions are vague ("one contemporary monologue"), take that as the default: a different play. ## How to choose a piece from the same world The best general-audition piece doesn't come from the show, but it makes the director think of the show. Solano College Theatre's guide says to choose a monologue that's similar to the play in author, humor, character, or style. That gives you four handles to work with. 1. **Read the whole play first.** Not just the role you want. You're looking for its rhythm, how people talk, what's funny, and what's at stake. 2. **Name its world in one sentence.** For example: "Comedy of manners, 1890s London, people saying outrageous things very politely." Or: "Small-town family drama, plain speech, a secret that comes out." 3. **Try the same writer first.** A different play by the same playwright is the most direct way to show you can speak their language. Yale's song advice makes the same move for musicals: a song by the same composer, from a different show, is a good way to show you fit, though not necessary. 4. **Then try the same period or style.** If the writer has nothing that suits you, look at their contemporaries or plays with the same kind of humor and language. 5. **Match the role's type, not its lines.** If you want the young romantic lead, find a young romantic lead elsewhere, with a similar want and a similar energy. 6. **Check the notice's limits.** Length, period, contemporary or classical, accent. Baylor Theatre's [audition hints](https://theatre.artsandsciences.baylor.edu/apply-baylor-theatre/admissions/helpful-hints-performance-auditions) boil it down: choose monologues from published plays, and observe all time limits. The University of Iowa's theater auditions show what a "same world" request looks like when it's written into a notice. For one musical, its [audition information](https://callboard.performingarts.uiowa.edu/theatre-audition-information) asked for 32 bars of a song *in a similar style to Urinetown* and told actors not to use a song from the show. Same world, different show. That's the pattern you're aiming for, even when a notice doesn't spell it out. ## A worked example: auditioning for *The Importance of Being Earnest* Say your theater is doing Wilde's *The Importance of Being Earnest*, and you'd like to play Gwendolen or Cecily. The tempting choice is one of their speeches from the play. Following the rule, you'd put that aside and look for the same world instead. The world, in one sentence: "Wilde's London, young people talking about love and marriage as if it were a social sport, every line built to land a joke." Same writer, different play, gives you [*An Ideal Husband*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/an-ideal-husband) (1895), the same year as *Earnest*. In Act II, Mabel Chiltern complains about a young man who keeps proposing to her: > **MABEL CHILTERN:** Well, Tommy has proposed to me again. Tommy really does nothing but propose to me. He proposed to me last night in the music-room, when I was quite unprotected, as there was an elaborate trio going on. I didn’t dare to make the smallest repartee, I need hardly tell you. If I had, it would have stopped the music at once. The speech runs on well past these lines, so you can cut it to the time limit; the full text is on our [*An Ideal Husband*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/an-ideal-husband) page. It's Wilde's music, it's a young woman in charge of a love story, and it's a comic speech with somewhere to go. A director casting Gwendolen sees you handle Wilde's sentences without watching you do the scene they've already pictured. And it's less likely to be a speech other Gwendolens bring. The same approach works for any play. Auditioning for a Chekhov? Try a different Chekhov. For Ibsen, another Ibsen, or a play from the same years with the same kind of family secret. If you need a starting point, our [monologue library](https://www.offbook.com/monologues) has speeches with notes, and every play on our [plays pages](https://www.offbook.com/plays) shows who speaks in each scene, so you can find the parts with real speeches. ## Prepare the show's text anyway Not performing the show's speeches doesn't mean ignoring them. Theatre Bay Area's [tips from Bay Area casting directors](https://www.theatrebayarea.org/2014/08/07/10-tips-for-choosing-your-audition-monologue/) tell actors to read the whole play their monologue comes from, and the same habit pays off for the play being cast. If you get called back, you'll be holding pages from it, often with little time to prepare. So read the show twice. Mark the scenes your character is in. Say the big exchanges out loud before you ever see sides, so the rhythm isn't new to you on the day. When the sides or callback pages arrive, a good way to get them into your mouth is to rehearse them with someone reading the other part. Offbook does that: upload the pages as a PDF or a photo, choose your role, and realistic voices read every other character while it listens and gives you the next cue when you finish your line. For your monologue, you can hide your lines and say the piece from memory, a quick check that it's solid before you walk into the room. The short video below goes from a script to a first run in about a minute. Video: [Upload a script and rehearse](https://www.offbook.com/learn/upload-and-rehearse) (1:03) ## A checklist for the night before 1. Read the notice once more. Does it ask for material from the show, sides only, or a monologue of your choice? 2. If it's your choice, confirm the piece is from a different play, inside the time limit, and from a published play. 3. Say your one-sentence world for the show, and check your piece fits it. 4. Read the scenes your character is in, out loud, so callback pages won't be a cold read. 5. Prepare a short introduction: your name, the character, and the play. Don't explain why you chose it unless they ask. 6. If the director suggested a speech from the show, be ready to say so in one line. If you're still choosing, our guides to [choosing contrasting monologues](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-choose-contrasting-monologues) and [cutting a monologue to time](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-cut-a-monologue) cover the next steps, and the free [run lines online](https://www.offbook.com/tools/run-lines-online) tool lets you rehearse classic scenes out loud. ## Questions actors ask ### Will I be rejected for doing a monologue from the show? Probably not on that alone, and some directors won't mind. But you're breaking a rule that several theaters and schools print in their audition advice, and you're spending your general audition on text they could hand you later. When the notice is silent, a different play is the safer choice. ### Can I sing a song from the musical I'm auditioning for? The same rule usually applies to songs. Yale says to pick a song from a different show unless told otherwise, and the University of Iowa's audition page says not to audition with a song from the show. Yale suggests a song by the same composer from a different show as a good way to show you fit, though not necessary, and Iowa has asked for songs in a similar style to the show. ### What if I already played this role somewhere else? It's still from the show, so the same rule applies. Meryl Shaw, quoted in Melissa Hillman's Theatre Bay Area tips, warns that a piece from a production you've performed in is challenging, because the old performance is hard to shake. Find something fresh from the same world. ### What should I do if the notice asks for a piece from the show? Do it, and use the exact speech or cut they list. Read the whole play so you know where the moment sits, learn it as well as any other monologue, and don't try to reproduce a famous performance of it. They asked for it so they can see your version.