L.E. McCullough's Monologues & Scenes
The monologue is the most primal form of theatre.
It’s the foundation of good acting and good writing.
It’s a magical vehicle into the psyche of another human being. The innermost thoughts of a character are expressed so that we feel an instant bond, either of empathy or alienation. The truth resonates immediately; it’s a story that tells everything we need to know about the character.
With 4 published books totaling 333 original monologues for ages 6 to 60, L.E. McCullough has injected the venerable literary form with a refreshing blend of daring and sophistication.
For the last 20 years, his monologues have been used as audition pieces by aspiring actors across North America and Europe, including several winners of American College Theatre Festival competitions.
“L.E.’s monologues have an ability to transport you into realms of a character’s behavior and emotion you never thought you’d fathom,” says New York director Kathleen Bishop. “His characters dig into an ordinary so-called normal moment and pull out something completely unexpected. These are monologues that hit the ground running and don’t stop until they’ve pretty much torn up everything in their path.”
L.E. McCullough’s monologues serve 3 purposes.
Purpose Number One. they provide actors with fresh, contemporary, powerful audition pieces that make a memorable impression at casting calls.
Purpose Number Two, they offer a sort of repertorial skeleton key by which actors may unlock a wide-ranging storehouse of inner emotion that will help them embody more fully a particular character or moment.
A monologue is a snapshot (sometimes vivid, sometimes blurry) that offers a fleeting glimpse into a human life at a particular passing instant in time. In essence, each of these monologues is a person, a person in a state of extreme transition or, possibly, bogged down forever in a situation of complete psychic paralysis.
They comprise a diverse span of characters: multi-cultural, multi-generational, often multi-personalitied individuals who are by turns confused, confident, bitter, ecstatic, depraved, shy, infinitely hopeful, irremediably hopeless. They are the world’s winners and losers, the lucky and luckless, the sanctified and the hell-bound.
Some of the monologues are gender-specific; most can be used by female and male actors alike with slight alteration. Some are couched in the dialect of a certain social class or ethnicity. If you like the inherent idea or emotion, feel free to adapt the piece and character to your own interpretation.
And Purpose Number Three? Pure unadulterated entertainment — to sit back and relish the utter and total uniqueness that is the constant and eternal wonder of human life on this planet.
CRITICS COMMENT ON
L.E. McCullough’s Monologues
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"McCullough presents a gripping variety of vivid scenes. These are powerful character voices for the monologues reader and their audience." — Voice of Youth Advocates
"From trash-class twang to a sweet-talking saleswoman's pitch and the soothing tones of an apologetic hit man, Ice Babies in Oz explores real emotions." — Small Press
"Gutsy and slick and full of depth, humor and sensitivity." — Hawaii Review
"Dear L.E. McCullough: Jesus, man you can really write, and no mistake. The energy level is so high and the texture is so rich and novel." — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., writer