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…to my acting students at the Atlantic Theater Company who wanted to know how to apply the acting technique they were using in scene classes to monologues and auditions. In addressing their questions, I recognized that directing and audition technique are just as important as acting skills in auditions. As a result my approach teaches you how to effectively Direct, Act and Audition with monologues.

Let's look at why monologues are so often a miserable experience for actors:

• Few actors feel they have an effective way to rehearse them.
• Many actors are tortured about choosing their material, and choose at the last minute.
• Or, they do the same 1 or 2 pieces until they are completely sick of them.
• Or, they avoid the auditions that ask for monologues and they're miserable about that.
• Many actors have no staging for their monologues – they wing their movement choices while auditioning, turning the audition into a nerve wracking rehearsal instead of a confident performance.
• Many actors are completely baffled about how to act effectively without a partner.
• Many actors – even graduates of respected acting programs – have not been taught how to audition, and therefore look unsure, strained, apologetic, angry, or just plain unhappy in their entrances, hello's, and exits.

This list should also make clear why monologues are so often a miserable experience for the people who watch them – just multiply the above by many hundreds (as might be seen in a typical Equity Principal Audition). When we interviewed Amanda Charlton of the Williamstown Theater Festival for the The Monologue Audition Video (DVD) she said, “about 10% of the actors I see look like they're having a good time performing – and those are the ones we take.”

So how can you have a good time? The good news is that learning all of the skills involved in creating a well-rehearsed, well-performed monologue audition are in your control, and it is completely possible to turn the whole process into a creative experience. You can:

• Learn to create the right amount of staging for your monologue that is enjoyable to do, and consistent so that you can tell your story even when you are nervous – in fact, having good staging is the best way to decrease your nerves.
• Learn to make your staging choices work for ANY “sized” audition – theater, on-camera, agent’s office.
• Very easily learn to act just as truthfully off of ‘no one' as you can off of a live partner – it is a very simple adjustment.
• Rehearse correctly, and enough, so that you can really act and tell your story.
• Become an expert at audition room entrances and exits, and at handling all interactions with a relaxed, professional and positive manner.
• Have a clear way of evaluating each audition that sets you up for the next one and makes you eager to audition again.

These are the skills featured in my monologue classes, my book The Monologue Audition: A Practical Guide for Actors, and DVD, The Monologue Audition Video. I invite you to read more about them, and to watch the DVD trailers. For teachers: the Educational Package includes a Teacher’s Manual with additional guidelines, goals, exercises, and lesson plans for high school and college programs. And, I am happy to announce my new book, How to Choose a Monologue for Any Audition. I also invite you to check out and pass on the many articles and resources on the site.

If you (or your students) have been having any kind of difficulty with monologues or auditioning, I hope this site is valuable to you, and that it helps make monologues an enjoyable, creative part of your auditioning life.

Karen Kohlhaas is a theater director, filmmaker, teacher and author. She is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company, and a senior teacher at the Atlantic Acting School.

She recently directed the Off-Broadway world premiere of Annie Baker's play BODY AWARENESS for Atlantic, and also directed actress/comedienne Judy Gold in the Drama Desk Award nominated one woman show 25 QUESTIONS FOR A JEWISH MOTHER by Kate Moira Ryan and Ms. Gold which played at the Montreal Comedy Festival, Ars Nova in NYC, ran 6 months Off-Broadway at the St. Luke's Theatre, and is now on a national tour. Other Off-Broadway and regional productions include Harold Pinter's THE HOTHOUSE (Atlantic), Keith Reddin’s SYNERGY (Alley Theatre, world premiere) and FRAME 312 (Atlantic, NY premiere); David Mamet's BOSTON MARRIAGE (New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, NY premiere) and THE WATER ENGINE (Atlantic); three productions of AN ADULT EVENING OF SHEL SILVERSTEIN in New York and Sydney; and Kate Moira Ryan's OTMA (U.S. premiere). She has also directed at Naked Angels, New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and other New York theaters.

Karen's short films have played at the Silverlake, Galway, and Crossroads film festivals, and include THE PALACE OF THE END and IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING featuring Taylor Mac, and The Babies Got the Blues co-directed with Rachel Hamilton.

Karen teaches at the Atlantic Acting School's NYU/Tisch undergraduate studio and full time Conservatory programs, and also teaches her own Directing, Monologue, and Fearless Cold Reading & Audition Technique workshops.

Her new book is How to Choose a Monologue for Any Audition, and she is the author of The Monologue Audition: A Practical Guide for Actors (Foreword by David Mamet), and the Monologue Audition Teacher's Manual. She is the director, writer and co-producer of The Monologue Audition Video (DVD), a 120-minute instructional DVD about her innovative monologue audition technique that shows actors how to direct, act, and audition with monologues.