CONTEMPORARY DRAMATIC

Eve, The Diaries of Adam and Eve (1 minute)

The moon got loose last night, did you notice? It slid down and fell out of the sky. A very great

loss. It breaks my heart to think of it. Does it break your heart? To think of it? It breaks my heart

to think of it. It should have been fastened better. I wonder if we can get it back again? Of

course, there’s no telling where it went. And I’m sure whoever finds it will hide it. I know I

would. Not that I’m a dishonest person- I’m honest. Mostly honest. More honest than most. But I

have come to realize that the core and center of my nature is a love of beautiful things. And shiny

things! I love the beautiful shiny things. I have an overwhelming passion for beautiful shiny

things… So it probably would not be safe to trust me with a moon that belonged to someone

else.

Sara, A Little Princess (1 minute)

I don't have a mother either... she's in heaven with my baby sister... But that doesn't mean I can't

talk to her, I talk to her all the time... I tell her everything and I know she hears me because...

because that's what angels do. My mom is an angel and yours is too. With beautiful satin wings,

a silk dress, and a crown of baby rosebuds, and they all live together in a castle. And do you

know what it's made out of? Sunflowers. Hundreds of them, so bright they shine like the sun.

And when they want to go anywhere they just whistle, like this...​(whistles)​ and a cloud swoops

down to the front gate and picks them up and as they ride through the air, over the moon and
through the stars... until they are hovering right above us, that's how they can look down and

make sure we're alright.

Anne, The Diary of Anne Frank (1 minute)

Look, Peter, the sky. What a lovely, lovely day! Aren’t the clouds beautiful? You know what I

do when it seems as if I couldn’t stand being cooped up for one more minute? I think myself out.

I think myself on a walk in the park where I used to go with Pim. Where the jonquils and the

crocus and the violets grow down the slopes. You know the most wonderful thing about thinking

yourself out? You can have it any way you like. You can have roses and violets and

chrysanthemums all blooming at the same time…it’s funny…I used to take it all for

granted…and now I’ve gone crazy about everything to do with nature. Haven’t you?

Alexandra, The Little Foxes (1 minute)

Mama, I’m not coming with you. I’m not going to Chicago. I mean what I say with all my heart.

There is nothing to talk about. I’m going away from you. Because I want to. Because I know

Papa would want me to. Say it, Mama, say it. [Say no] And see what happens. That would be

foolish. It wouldn’t work in the end. You only change your mind when you want to. And I won’t

want to. You couldn’t [make me stay], Mama, because I want to leave here. As I’ve never

wanted anything in my life before. Because I understand what Papa was trying to tell me. (Pause)

All in one day: Addie said there were people who ate the earth and other people who stood

around and watched them do it. And just now Uncle Ben said the same thing. Really, he said the
same thing. Well, tell him for me, Mama, I’m not going to stand around and watch you do it. Tell

him I’ll be fighting as hard as he’ll be fighting some place where people don’t just stand around

and watch. Are you afraid, Mama?

CONTEMPORARY COMEDIC

Steve, Fat Cat Killers (1 minute)

I would like to call on the leniency of the jury. Not because I didn't know what I was doing. I

knew what I was doing. Although please keep in mind that it wasn't actually me who killed

Dave. I didn't shoot at anyone or anything. I just helped with the kidnapping. I may be an

accessory to murder, but a minor accessory like . . . what's a minor accessory? Like a barrette. It's

true I helped keep him hostage, but I had a good reason for all my actions. Also, I would like to

say to those who try to copycat me and kidnap CEOs--I would not do that. I think it is a bad idea

despite the manifesto I wrote saying it was a good idea. I no longer believe this manifesto. I am

penitent and see the errors I have made in the past. Thank you. Please be lenient. Cool. Thanks.

Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables (30-45 sec)

Mrs. Lynde, I'm extremely sorry I behaved so terribly. I've disgraced my good friends who've let

me stay at Green Gables on trial, even though I'm not a boy. I am wicked and ungrateful, and I

deserve to be cast out forever. What you said was true; I am skinny and ugly, and my hair is red.

What I said about you was true too, only I shouldn't have said it. Please, Mrs. Lynde, forgive me.
You wouldn't be so cruel as to inflict a life-long sorrow on a poor orphan. Please. Please, forgive

me.

CLASSICAL DRAMATIC

Margaret, Henry VI pt III (45 sec-1 min)

Who can be patient in such extremes?

Ah, wretched man! would I had died a maid

And never seen thee, never borne thee son,

Seeing thou hast proved so unnatural a father

Hath he deserved to lose his birthright thus?

Hadst thou but loved him half so well as I,

Or felt that pain which I did for him once,

Or nourish'd him as I did with my blood,

Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood there,

Rather than have that savage duke thine heir

And disinherited thine only son.

Catherine, Wuthering Heights (2 minutes)

I wouldn't be you for a kingdom! Nelly, help me to convince her of her madness. Tell her what

Heathcliff is: an unreclaimed creature, without refinement, without cultivation; an arid

wilderness of furze and whinstone. I'd as soon put that little canary into the park on a winter's
day, as recommend you to bestow your heart on him! It is deplorable ignorance of his character,

child, and nothing else, which makes that dream enter your head. Pray, don't imagine that he

conceals depths of benevolence and affection beneath a stern exterior! He's not a rough diamond

- a pearl-containing oyster of a rustic: he's a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man. I never say to him, "Let

this or that enemy alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them;" I say, "Let

them alone, because I should hate them to be wronged:" and he'd crush you like a sparrow's egg,

Isabella, if he found you a troublesome o charge. I know he couldn't love a Linton; and yet he'd

be quite capable of marrying your fortune and expectations: avarice is growing with him a

besetting sin. There's my picture: and I'm his friend -- so much so, that had he thought seriously

to catch you, I should, perhaps, have held my tongue, and let you fall into his trap. Banish him

from your thoughts. He's a bird of bad omen: no mate for you.

Volumnia, Corialanus (2 min)

Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment

And state of bodies would bewray what life

We have led since thy exile. Think with thyself

How more unfortunate than all living women

Are we come hither: since that thy sight, which should

Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance with comforts,

Constrains them weep and shake with fear and sorrow;

Making the mother, wife and child to see

The son, the husband and the father tearing

His country's bowels out. And to poor we

Thine enmity's most capital: thou barr'st us

Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort

That all but we enjoy; for how can we,

Alas, how can we for our country pray.

Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory,

Whereto we are bound? alack, or we must lose

The country, our dear nurse, or else thy person,

Our comfort in the country. We must find

An evident calamity, though we had

Our wish, which side should win: for either thou

Must, as a foreign recreant, be led

With manacles thorough our streets, or else

triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin,

And bear the palm for having bravely shed

Thy wife and children's blood. For myself, son,

I purpose not to wait on fortune till

These wars determine: if I cannot persuade thee

Rather to show a noble grace to both parts

Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner

March to assault thy country than to tread—

Trust to't, thou shalt not—on thy mother's womb,

That brought thee to this world.

Cordelia, King Lear (1 minute)

Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty

According to my bond; no more nor less.

Good my lord,

You have begot me, bred me, lov’d me; I

Return those duties back as are right fit,

Obey you, love you, and most honour you.

Why have my sisters husbands, if they say

They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,

That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry

Half my love with him, half my care and duty.

Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,

To love my father all.

CLASSICAL COMEDIC

Jo, Little Women (1 minute)

What’s the use of asking what we shall wear, when you know we shall wear our poplins, because

we haven’t got anything else? But don’t worry, Meg. I’m sure our pops look like silk, and they

are nice enough for us. Yours is as good as new, but I forgot the burn and the tear in mine.

Whatever shall I do? The burn shows badly, and I can’t take any out. My gloves are spoiled with

lemonade, and I can’t get any new ones, so I shall have to go without. I can hold them crumpled

up in my hand, so no one will know how stained they are. That’s all I can do. (​a beat)​ No! I’ll
tell you how we can manage, we each wear one good one and carry a bad one. Don’t you see?

You don’t like the idea? Fine. Then I’ll go without. I don’t care what people think.

Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing: Act II, Scene I​ (​ 1 minute)

Too curst is more than curst: I shall lessen God's sending that way; for it is said, 'God sends a

curst cow short horns'; but to a cow too curst he sends none. So, by being too curst, let God send

me no horns. Just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees

every morning and evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face:

*Beat* Though I may light upon a husband with no beard. But What should I do with him?

Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? *Pause to laugh* He that hath

a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man: and he that is more

than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.

Julia, Two Gentlemen of Verona (1-2 min)

O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!

Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey

And kill the bees that yield it with your stings!

I'll kiss each several paper for amends.

Look, here is writ 'kind Julia.' Unkind Julia!

As in revenge of thy ingratitude,

I throw thy name against the bruising stones,

Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.

And here is writ 'love-wounded Proteus.'

Poor wounded name! my bosom as a bed

Shall lodge thee till thy wound be thoroughly heal'd;

And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss.

But twice or thrice was 'Proteus' written down.

Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away

Till I have found each letter in the letter,

Except mine own name: that some whirlwind bear

Unto a ragged fearful-hanging rock

And throw it thence into the raging sea!

Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ,

'Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,

To the sweet Julia:' that I'll tear away.

And yet I will not, sith so prettily

He couples it to his complaining names.

Thus will I fold them one on another:

Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.