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monologue mania day # 278 by janet s. tiger  the fear factor (c) nov. 17, 2014

11/17/2014

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       Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
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Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #278 by Janet S. Tiger  The Fear Factor Nov. 17, 2014 


                                          The Fear Factor
                                      A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 


              (An older man comes onstage, he is shaking.  He takes a deep breath to calm himself.)

Why am I shaking?  Because I'm afraid, goddammit!  Me!  I can't believe it either!  Gimme something to drink, and fast!  Something strong....like one of those coffees with extra chocolate in it!  I need it and I need it fast!

              (He takes a coffee cup and chugs it down)

Aaahhhh!  Can you believe it- me scared?  I landed on the beaches at Normandy on D-Day!  I had 10 million Germans shooting at me!  I was wounded three times, went back into battle, survived the Battle of the Bulge!  But this is too much!  I can't take anymore......hit me again, only more coffee this time, barista!

              (He takes the cup and sips quickly, then starts to slow down.)

Only this time, I'm not getting paid.....I'm being scared...for free!  For a favor, for my daughter!  I am ....

              (He can barely say the words)

....not sure what possessed me to say 'yes' at my age, I am almost 90 for God's sake!  But here I am, and...

              (He stands up tall)

when I give my word, it's my bond.....so, better give me one more for the road...

             (He takes the cup, turns to leave, stops, looks back)

What am I doing?  Can't you figure it out?  Shaking like a leaf....nerves shot.....impending heart attack.....can't you tell.......I'm teaching my grandson to drive!

            (He shudders and exits.  Not the end...of fear!)

       
------------------------------------------------------------------ 
  
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315 
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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monologue mania day # 277 by janet s. tiger  losing friends (c) nov. 16, 2014

11/16/2014

1 Comment

 
     Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
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Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #277 by Janet S. Tiger Losing Friends Nov. 16, 2014 
Note - This is for all the wonderful friends I've lost, and for all the wonderful friends I still have!

                                          Losing Friends
                                      A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 


            (A woman of indeterminate age is waiting, shopping bags in one hand.  She is getting more impatient, tapping her heel.  Pushes buttons on a cell phone, no response.  Suddenly she stops and turns to the audience.)

Losing friends.   You forget how hard it can be.  The worst of course is when they die.  Then they are really gone.  I mean, you can still talk with them in your head, but you have to imagine what they'd say in response, and that can be tricky.  

And then there's the loss of friendship - when someone just stops talking to you.  For either a good reason, like my friend Angie found out her best friend Liz was having an affair with Angie's husband.  That will constitute an understandable reason.  Of course, until Angie found out, they were still friends, or were they?  Was it just a fake friendship, like in Hollywood?

Anyhow, they don't talk anymore, except to me, which is how I know these things.  But  sometimes a friend stops talking to you for no good reason that you can figure out.  You're not sleeping with her husband, and she's not sleeping with yours, you live in different cities, so you couldn't have snubbed her in the mall......so, they stop calling, and answering letters and email and they're...gone.  Not dead, you check with the children, who don't understand either, but it doesn't matter, since you were never that friendly with the children either.  So, no friend.  Which, as you get older, you start to miss.  And you have to make new friends of younger people, many of whom you have nothing in common with except that you both love cute cat videos.

And then, the other way to lose a friend....(gets upset).....at the mall!

I have been waiting....

         (Looks at her watch, shakes her head)

For over thirty minutes!  My friend Bobbie is always late!  She was late this morning when I picked her up and she was in her own house for God's sake!  I swear, she'll be late for her own funeral...(stops)  I mean, I guess she if she's late for her own funeral that means she won't be dead, right?   So that would actually be good. I mean,  I certainly do not want to lose another friend to the grim reaper, that's for sure.....

         (Puts her bags down, looks around)

But this is just...late!  And she won't answer her cell phone, either!  Can't figure out how it works!  I knew I should never have left her in that store alone, but she loves those gadgets and I just wanted to see the new cute cat store and ....(totally exasperated)...where the hell is she?  

Of all the ways to lose friends, this may not hurt, but it is certainly the most annoying!

And I was very clear, I told her very carefully, wait by escalator number 63, how hard is that?  I picked 63 because it's near the bathroom and a safe place to wait...I even wrote it down on a piece of paper!  

       (Listens, looks up)

63...you're right, this is...... 36....oh, my God....I'm late!

      (She runs off and we hear her...)

I'm sorry!  ooh, I'm sorry I got lost.....

      (She stops, looks back)
(Relieved)  At least I didn’t lose another friend…maybe I’m just losing my mind!
      (She exits.  Never the end of true friendship)

------------------------------------------------------------------ 
  
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315 
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
1 Comment

monologue mania day # 276 by janet s. tiger jigsaw 2 (a few years later) (c) nov. 15, 2014

11/15/2014

0 Comments

 
    Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
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Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #276 by Janet S. Tiger Jigsaw 2 Nov. 15, 2014 
Note - This can be done by itself, or with Day # 275

                                                        Jigsaw 2 (a few years later)
                                      A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 
                (A  man walks onstage using a walker, he looks around, moves carefully.  All the while he has a scissors and is snipping at the air with them.   He stops, looks at the floor, goes to pick up the 'pieces')
I thought this would help, but now I don't know.  
                (He holds one of the 'pieces' up and looks at it)
Where did this one go?  I forget now......I forget so many things now.....
               (He removes a paper from his pocket and examines it, putting on his glasses, checking on the 'pieces' lying on the floor and the one in his hand.) Did I get this wrong?  Did I ever do anything right?               (He walks to a corner, trying to get very high off the ground and snips more, examines)
This is supposed to fit together somehow.....
             (He puts the 'pieces' in some order, stares) That's my childhood, how beautiful it was.  My mother and father were not perfect, but they were good parents, I hope they know how much I loved them......Do we ever appreciate things until they're gone.....
            (He shuffles the pieces)
There's so much here......College days, friends......my first apartment......books I read, vacations, teachers......jobs....my first girlfriend......my first wife......

         (He cuts out a section, discards it) I guess that's the end of her, right?          (He leans down to pick up a piece) My second wife.....who was also my first girlfriend...we met again after our divorces and suddenly, things were different......if I hadn't stopped for gas in that little town, would we have met again?
You never know what the future holds, which piece of the puzzle is coming next, or where it fits when you first see it.....
          (He now goes from one end of the stage to another, slowly examining all the parts, scrunching up some, unraveling others)
I mean, this is my life, right?  I've seen all these pieces before somehow...... And I get to figure it out......Only...it seems.... the pieces don't always fit.....sometimes it's a nightmare putting them together, a puzzle with the cover missing and too many curves thrown in, but sometimes.......           (He suddenly stops, looks up and smiles) But sometimes, for a minute..... they do.......
         (He whirls around quickly, catching himself on the walker before he falls)
I just love this dream! 
          (He turns to exit, stops, looks back, a little concerned)
This is still a dream, right?
           (He decides it is, laughs, and dances off the stage with his walker. Never the end of the puzzle)
------------------------------------------------------------------ 
  
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315  www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com Member Dramatists Guild since 1983 Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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monologue mania day # 275 by janet s. tiger jigsaw (c) nov. 14, 2014

11/14/2014

0 Comments

 
Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
MonologueZone.com
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #275 by Janet S. Tiger Jigsaw  Nov. 14, 2014 

                                           Jigsaw

                                      A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 

                (A young man runs onstage, he turns a few somersaults, cartwheels- he will be doing these acrobatics throughout the piece -  all the while he has a giant scissors and is snipping at the air with them.   He stops, looks at the floor, goes to pick up the 'pieces')

I thought this would help, but now I don't know.  

                (He holds one of the 'pieces' up and looks at it)

Where did this one go?  I forget now......

               (He removes a paper from his pocket and examines it, checking on the 'pieces' lying on the floor and the one in his hand.) Did I get this wrong?    

             (He bounces to a corner, trying to get very high off the ground and snips more, examines)

This is supposed to fit together somehow.....

             (He puts the 'pieces' in some order, stares) That's my childhood, I get it.  Nice house, good neighborhood, great schools.  Forever damaged by my parents, right on target!  

            (He shuffles the pieces)

College days, friends......books I read, vacations, teachers......jobs....now a new job, a serious one.....one I might stay in for years......

          (He goes to other pieces, tries to fit them in)


But my girlfriend, she doesn't want to live in that state, so......

         (He cuts out a section, discards it)

I guess that's the end of her, right?

         (He goes to the section, picks it up, hugs it, then suddenly throws it far away, suddenly sees a new section, where he cuts out a fresh 'piece', looks at it, smiles)

And you never know what the future holds, which piece of the puzzle is coming next, or where it fits when you first see it.....

          (He furiously goes from one end of the stage to another, examining all the parts in a frenzy)

I mean, this is my life, right?  The pieces, and I get to figure it out......Only...it seems.... the pieces don't always fit.....           (He suddenly stops, slows way down, steps way back and stares, amazed) But sometimes, for a minute..... they do.......

         (He whirls around cartwheeling across the stage)

I just love dreams! 

          (He turns to exit, stops, looks back, a little concerned)

This is a dream, right?

           (He decides it is, laughs, and somersaults off the stage. Never the end of the puzzle)

------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315  www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com Member Dramatists Guild since 1983 Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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monologue mania day # 274 by janet s. tiger curse of the fisherman's wife (c) nov. 13, 2014

11/13/2014

0 Comments

 
Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
MonologueZone.com
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
e
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #274 by Janet S. Tiger  Curse of the Fisherman's Wife Nov. 13, 2014 

                          Curse of the Fisherman's Wife
                                      A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 
            (The woman comes onstage wearing a brightly colored outfit with a basket filled with fish.  She removes a knife from her apron and begins to prepare the fish for dinner.)

I was a little girl on a big island when my Daddy threw me into the water so I could learn to swim.  It was not nice, I was very afraid and I remember it my whole life.  But I swim.  Because there is no choice.  Swim....or die.

So......

           (She holds up one of the fish)

I hate fish because they can swim and they are not afraid of the water.  I do not eat fish, because I hate them.  Then my mother tells me it is time to marry, have children.  There are two men who want to marry me.  One is a man who builds.  I do not love him, even though the huts he makes are very nice, and sturdy, even the hurricane does not blow them over.

But I am in love with the other man.  And he is a fisherman.   So  I marry the  man who is a fisherman.  My mother tells me this is a not a good idea, because now I will not have a nice hut, only my hands will smell all the time....

           (She sniffs at her fingers)

My mother was right.  I would not tell her when she was alive, but I hate the smell of fish on my hands.

And even though I love my husband, I hate the smell of fish on him.  I make him rub coconut oil all over himself after he comes back from fishing.  It works.  So we have five children.  All with names of fish...the fish he caught before they were made........'Mauri' our oldest boy, after the black-tipped reef shark.....Hokahoka, the second boy, very large, like the fish......first daughter, Karahi, full-grown minnow.......then the twins, same time born, very different, like the catch, Meoni the bass boy and Ngoiro, the girl eel.....

Still I hate the fish......Why do I hate the fish?  Because the fish hate me.  The fish want to kill me.  When I was a baby, my mother give me fish, and I swelled up like a puffer fish.....

            (She puffs out her cheeks and stomach as if she is about to explode)

And then, when I am older, I cut myself when I am preparing the fish......the fish is in my blood and I stop breathing.....they have to dip me in the water and put papaya under my tongue.....I survive, but just barely.

So now, I do not eat fish.  I hate fish.  Because they hate me......because they can kill me with one bite...or one cut.....

Because I have the curse of the fisherman's wife, I cannot eat the fish.

            (She holds up the knife and the fish.)

So, if my fisherman husband, after we are married for many years, if my fishermanwants to love a woman in the next village, a woman who can eat fish.....then that is his choice.....(dark) ... and if I want to kill myself, it is ...my choice. It is.....easy.  I just have to do this.....

           (She moves to take a bite of the fish, chews, then hangs her head, then raises it and lifts the knife.)

 Or I can do this..... one cut....one touch of the fish.....

             (She take the knife and cuts herself, putting the fish into the wound.  She puts the fish carefully back into the basket.)

And I will prepare this fish for my husband.......and it will now be my curse.....

             (She takes the basket of fish and turns to go)

........the curse of the fisherman's dead wife......

             (She exits.  The end.....of the curse and the fisherman's wife) ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315  www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com Member Dramatists Guild since 1983 Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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monologue mania day # 273 by janet s. tiger caregivers anonymous (new opening) (c) nov. 12, 2014

11/12/2014

0 Comments

 
Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
MonologueZone.com
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
e
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #273 by Janet S. Tiger   Nov. 12, 2014 

                                                    Caregivers Anonymous
                                                          (new opening)
                                      A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 
             (The set is simple to start, a table with chairs are in the corner of the stage.  About 15 minutes before the play begins, a man will come on.  This is Franklin, older but very dapper, with a hat and cane and bag, and he removes his coat and hat and starts to arrange the chairs and table for the meeting.  This will help get the crowd in earlier, as the play may not start until lights up, there will be some interesting business to watch.

             Franklin puts the chairs in a semi-circle, with the table to one side and he now starts to brew some coffee.   He also will set up a plate of brownies, cookies - nibble food - and get the cups ready.  While he is preparing, others will start to arrive.  The order of arrival will be different every night, just like it is at a real meeting.  There will be a total of at least eight people, all ages, from teen to 80s, more women than men, all colors and racial ethnicities will be represented  - and because these are monologues, if someone is ill, or unable to come on one night, the play can stand without their input.   Another version of the play will be available in the event, if Franklin is unable to be there.

            As curtain time approaches, everyone is getting coffee and talking amongst themselves.  The actors will have the choice of improvising, or using dialogue available at the end of this play in the additional sections.  A couple of minutes before lights down, Franklin goes to the table and puts up the final prop, which will signify the play is about to begin -  on a stand, he places the sign....CAREGIVERS ANONYMOUS.  House lights down, stage lights up.  Franklin comes alive and puts on his hat and takes his cane.)

Hello my friends!  Welcome to the Wednesday night meeting of Caregivers Anonymous!

        (The others will ad lib their hellos)

I know everyone is dying to hear what tonight's introductory song will be...

        (The others hoot- oh, no!  not another one! and holler affectionately)

And tonight's is- surprisingly enough.....  in honor of my dear wife........

       (He taps the cane and the others are quiet)

Let me call you "Sweetheart," I'm in love with you.Let me hear you whisper that you love me too.Keep the love-light glowing in your eyes so true.Let me call you "Sweetheart," I'm in love with you.

Let me call you sweetheart

                'Cause you can't recall your name

And even though you can't remember

                I know you're not to blame

 I'll keep the night light  glowing
               so you won't fall and break your hip

Let me call you sweetheart
              but please honey..... Do Not Trip!


             (The others groan and make catcalls, and at this he breaks into an old soft shoe and the others now cheer.  He stumbles then takes a bow as a woman now enters, in her twenties, but she looks haggard.  For a continuation, see the original opening Day # 268)



------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Real words for 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart'  with music by Leo Friedman and lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson. (Public domain song - 1910 - can be used without paying royalty) 

I am dreaming Dear of you, day by day
Dreaming when the skies are blue, When they're gray;

When the silv'ry moonlight gleams, Still I wander on in dreams,
In a land of love, it seems, Just with you.
Let me call you "Sweetheart," I'm in love with you.
Let me hear you whisper that you love me too
.
Keep the love-light glowing in your eyes so true.
Let me call you "Sweetheart," I'm in love with you

.
Longing for you all the while, More and more;Longing for the sunny smile, I adore
;
Birds are singing far and near,
Roses blooming ev'rywhere
You, alone, my heart can cheer;
You, just you.

Let me call you "Sweetheart," I'm in love with you.
Let me hear you whisper that you love me too.Keep the love-light glowing in your eyes so true.
Let me call you "Sweetheart," I'm in love with you.


Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315
  www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com Member Dramatists Guild since 1983 Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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monologue mania day # 272 by janet s. tiger the longest day (c) nov. 11, 2014

11/11/2014

0 Comments

 
Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
MonologueZone.com
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
e
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #272  by Janet S. Tiger  The Longest Day Nov. 11, 2014 
         
This was first written in 1998 on Veteran's Day  after watching THE LONGEST DAY with my son, updated for today’s monologue.  Thank you to all who serve, and all who wait.
                            
                                            The Longest Day                                       A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 


               (A woman comes out onstage.  She has a flag and she waves it proudly)

Veteran's Day

I watched a movie with my son

A movie about D-day

And it's different now, than when I was younger

Before, I cried for the young men

And their girlfriends....

Because I knew so many guys in the service

Home from Vietnam in those days, the dead were their friends, never to return

But even though I'd never lost a love on foreign shores

I could sense the horror

The waiting for letters

The telegram- the phone call

Like a nightmare come to life

Now it's different, now I have a son

Now when I watched, I cried for all the sons.....

And for their mothers....

I'd never thought of them before

But now....I cried not just for the handsome lads in uniforms but also for all the women who changed their diapers

And wiped their noses
And washed their clothes
And dried their tears

And I prayed for all those

Now in uniform

And for their mothers….and fathers

Because I knew that, until they are home safe

Every day……. is the longest day
 
------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315  www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com Member Dramatists Guild since 1983 Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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monologue mania day # 271 by janet s. tiger free at last (c) nov. 10, 2014

11/10/2014

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Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
MonologueZone.com
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Monologue Mania Day #271  by Janet S. Tiger  Nov. 10, 2014 

                                                               Free at Last
                                                         (for Caregivers Anonymous)    
                                      A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 
             (An older black woman stands up and walks over to the wheelchair, takes it and spins  it, then sits, as if she is a queen.  She even removes a paper crown from her bag and puts it on her head.)

There is a reason I have taken this chair for a spin first, as you know I have never talked first in one of these here meetings.....

            (Listens, nods)

All right, I barely talk at all.

But that is completely irrelevant today.....because I am....  
(Singing) Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty I am free at last!

          (When she sees the faces of the others she stands quickly, waving her hands)

No, not that kind of free!  He's still alive, George is still alive!  But I am free because  (she laughs)  We went to a new doctor, and the doctor changed the medicine George has been using for twenty-five years.  In two days, George was outta bed!  He was prancing around like a young man, and then, I wake up today and find this note.....

           (She opens a paper)

Baby, I want to thank you for all you have done all these years......

           (Looks up)

Well, no, he didn't write that, I just was hopin'....

           (Reads again)

Dear Lena......I am sorry, but I have to go.  I only took my clothes and a little money.  We will be fine.  Love, George

          (Starts laughing)

(Mocks)  Love, George!  I take care of him for sixteen years of his bitchin' and moanin' in that bed all day.....and he has the nerve to say...'love, George'?    What a man!  

The best part is, he left me for the nurse that helped take care of him!  Ruby Gunn!  Better as Rue....Be Gone!  And good riddance to the both of them!

           (She shakes with laughter)

The best part is I have been prayin' for this for the last ten years, and when the children helped to pay for a nurse to help me, I picked that Ruby and I hoped the two of them would like each other!  And now, I got exactly what I wanted!  Hallelujah!

            (She goes to her seat and picks up her bag and puts her hat back on, turning to leave) I know they say, be careful what you wish for, and maybe tomorrow I will be sad, but for right now, I am gonna go out and watch me a movie and sit at the beach until the sun goes down and do exactly what I wanna do for the first time in 16 years!  And I am not gonna worry about gettin' home in time to relieve the nurse because.......the nurse has relieved me!
            (She exits, smiling, dancing a little jig as she sings out ‘Free at Last’.  Blackout)  ------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315  www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com Member Dramatists Guild since 1983 Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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monologue mania day # 270 by janet s. tiger  caregivers anonymous (c) nov. 9, 2014

11/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
MonologueZone.com
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
e
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #270  by Janet S. Tiger  Caregivers Anonymous (Act 2 opening)  Nov. 9, 2014 
(See Day # 268   for the opening scene of Caregivers Anonymous - Wheelchair of Fortune)
                                   Caregivers Anonymous
                                            (for Act 2 opening of Caregivers Anonymous)                                
                                          A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 
                    (Act 2 begins as the people, drinking their coffee, eating cookies, gravitate towards their chairs.  The younger woman who came in at the beginning is watching them, not really interacting with them, even though the others try to come over and talk with her.  Franklin watches her, and as the others finish sitting, she takes the wheelchair and comes to the center of the group.  She has a slight Southern accent)
Hello, my name is......no that's not important.  I want to thank you all for bein' so kind and tryin' to get me to talk with you.  I don't think I'll be comin' back again, but I do think you deserve to hear my story......which appropriately enough involves a wheelchair, but, at this moment, I see no good fortune in it, so I will not sit in it.....

                  (She pushes the chair aside and takes a deep breath)

My husband, I'll call him Terry, and I met in a small town, where he was stationed before he left for Afghanistan.  We fell in love very fast.....and got married very fast.  And then he left.....for a tour that lasted 18 months.  I was faithful to him, I don't know if he was to me, over there, at first that bothered me, but the others wives told me that if I worried about that, I would waste all my worrying time!

He came home and he was different.  Very different.  He had seen things that he wouldn't talk about, except with his buddies.  And then he went back, for another 18 months.  The second time was.....easier, and harder.

And he came back all in one piece.  My friend Angie said that was somethin' to be grateful for....and I was.  But he now was very different.

I suppose he was sufferin' from that PTSD thing, but I didn't know much, and the VA is not that helpful.

(Deep sigh)  He was so handsome in his uniform.  And he .....still loved me. Whatever he did over there, he didn't run around here.  That I could tell.  But I couldn't help him through his private hell.

My friend Angie told me I didn't have to live like this.  Her husband Chris, he was weird, too, and she told him to (imitates friend)  'Get help or get out!'  And when he refused, she got out.  With their kids.  And Terry and I didn't have any kids.  Angie told me it was better that way, easier to go.

We had some horrible fights.

After one, I knew that I was gonna leave.  The next day, I was gonna call the lawyer, and be gone, back home, where at least my parents would let me stay until I could sort everythin' out.

He left that night on his motorcycle......does that give you a clue what's about to happen next?  Well, I got the call at 3 am from the police.......but it wasn't his motorcycle.  He got into a fight with some guys......three of them tackled him, and when he went down, he hit his head on a metal bar stool......it was not pretty.

He was paralyzed.....waist down.  What a waste!

He saw me in the hospital and he was under all this medication, and still in pain, and he grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes and he.....(hard to remember)....he said 'thank you for comin, baby, I love you......'

How could I leave him?  I have seen him through five operations, and four years of therapy.  He can use a wheelchair very well, but.......(trying not to cry).......there's still somethin' wrong with him!  And I can't take it anymore!  It's not fair!  I was about to leave him!  And then, for some stupid reason, I couldn't let him face this all alone.....not after he came back whole, just to lose it in some stupid bar fight.....

The lawsuit - which was just finished! -gave him enough money so that he will not have to worry for the rest of his life.

But me...what about me?  I can't take it!  Who's gonna take care of me if somethin' happens?  I don't wanna do this for another fifty years!  I don't wanna live with a man who can barely talk to me without yellin'!  A man who will probably never walk again.......God forgive me for sayin' these things!  But if I could kill him and no one would know, I would do it!

              (She breaks down now and the others come over and try to hug her, she steps away)

Don't try to make me feel better!  I feel like shit and that's all I deserve after sayin' somethin' like that!
And you haven't even heard the worst part.....

(Deep sigh)   I still love him......

              (Blackout.  End of scene)

   
------------------------------------------------------------------ 
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monologue mania day # 269 by janet s. tiger  case of the quivering onions (for Book of Teas)  (c) nov. 8, 2014

11/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
                                                                        - for a whole year!
Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

 If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to 
http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
     To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - 
click here.
     For a list of the blurbs from each day,
 click here

Help  a playwright and get  more great  award-winning monologues - 
MonologueZone.com
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this sit
e
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #269  by Janet S. Tiger   The Case of the Quivering Onions Nov. 8, 2014 
(For more monologues from THE BOOK OF TEAS, please see Days # 15, 51, 52, 53, 69, 84, 96, 105, 118, 156,  173, 175, 176, 177, 178, 181, 184, 185)
  
                                     The Miracle of the Quivering Onions                                                            (for the Book of Teas as Onion Tea)
                                  A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com 

               (T comes onstage carrying a basket of onions.  She still has a Southern accent)

I am so glad you have had this cry, my dear.  Cryin is good for the soul - and the blood pressure, I believe.  At least that's what I heard on one of those PBS shows.
 
And because onions represent tears, my momma once told me a story about onions that I think is appropriate for this situation.  


This is when my momma was little, and her momma taught her how to plant onions, in case of an emergency.  You see, if you can have onions and potatoes growin, you won't starve.  Potatoes will keep you goin and onions keep you healthy as no germs like onions.  With onions you can make an onion tea that will cure just about anythin'.......and when you cook potatoes with onions, you can actually have a delicious meal.......

Simple.  Onions are simple.  They are sturdy.  Most animals don't like to eat them.  You stick 'em in the ground, they grow, you get them up, put the root ball back in and they grow some more.  

  Member I said most animals don't like to eat onions?  Well, that is true.  Most people don't like their eyes to water, and it is the same for critters.  Tears are very usually unwelcome.  Yet what would life be like without tears?  Without sad to make the happy even happier? 

So her momma showed her how to protect the onions from onion maggots using some netting...and how to watch for thrips usin a piece of paper...... all useful knowledge that momma passed along to me of course.......which you, dear daughter, have refused to learn since you never liked to get your hands dirty, but that is another issue for another day.

So,  the onions were growin up very nice.....

And then, one day, her momma said, let's go see how the onions are doin, and they went out and there was a whole field of onions!  All happy,   with the yellow tops stickin out, and my momma was jumpin up and down with happiness, and she asked her momma, 'now can we pick 'em?' and her momma said, 'it's time!' and just then, they looked and my momma said, 'what is that?  Are the onions...quiverin?

            (She takes a few of the onions and wiggles them)
 
And her momma looked, and they were!  It was almost like they were alive.....like a miracle....the miracle of the quiverin onions........And as they watched, the onions quivered in a dance of what they would soon realize was a dance....of death.

For what had happened was a moment of true nature, the onions were not quiverin on their own, they were bein eaten from below....by gophers!

That's right, GOPHERS!  But the moment was more than just nature, it was one of beauty, because the quiverin onions almost looked like they were dancin in the breeze, before they made their final bow, and were sucked down into the earth, never to dance - or quiver again.

           (Listens)

Why did I tell you this story?  Because,  in the midst of all the beauty of the growin onions, there was something that neither person saw before or since.  And it was beautiful - strange, but beautiful.  And it marked the end of the onions......yet what was remembered of those onions is much more than any other onions we have seen or heard since.

And that is what you are facing now.  Beauty, then loss......frozen in your brain like a field of quiverin' onions, tears and laughter all together....

        (She turns to go, stops, looks back)

....... and you will remember these days long after the quiverin is over.......

      (Blackout, end of scene)

        
------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315 
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence Swedenborg Hall 2006-8 --------------------------------------------------------
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    Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.

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    Janet S. Tiger’s award-winning plays and monologues have been produced internationally and are currently in popular anthologies in the United States and Canada.

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