What are contemporary monologues?

Question

I have an interview for an acting school on saturday and I need to prepare two contemporary monologues. What exactly are they? What do they mean by contemporary?

Answer 1

a contemporary monologue is from the last 75 years or so, they don't want you to come in with a Shakespeare monologue or Shaw or something based from classic literature; they want something current- there are books you can get from Borders for contemporary or student monolgues; you will want to pick two that are contrasting in style/ character and stay within characters that you can believably portray (no 65 year old grandma characters hehe; and think about ethnicity too)

AND remember to know the character you are playing and the play its from, who wrote it, and what is happening in the story when these lines are delivered- ALL schools will expect you to do your homework, and will ask

break a leg!

Answer 2

contemporary means modern. IE: Don't go in there with Shakespeare, Checkov, or Ibsen