About the Book:

As professional directors and teachers who work with young and adult actors at the Tony Award-Winning American Conservatory Theater, editors Craig Slaight and Jack Sharrar have years of experience helping actors uncover the dynamics of the monologue, as acting exercise and as audition material. In Great Monologues for Young Actors, Vol. II, selected from plays by substantial playwrights from an international field, the editors have assembled an impressive collection of age-appropriate monologues to take the actor/director/teacher to new levels of sophistication and breadth. The volume's introduction is a concise guide to today's audition obstacles and how to overcome them. As in their other award-winning collections, Craig Slaight and Jack Sharrar have selected character speeches from the finest dramatic literature. In addition, they have included a special section on the use of the song lyric as an exciting and useful exercise in solo work.

Some of the writers included in Great Monologues for Young Actors, Vol. II are: Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Constance Congdon, Kia Corthron, Bob Dylan, Horton Foote, Timothy Mason, Sharman Macdonald, Lynn Nottage, Adam Rapp, George Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare, Sam Shepard, and John M. Synge.

What people say:

"English teachers, drama coaches and teachers need to include Volume II of this series in their collection." — KLIATT

About the Author:

Craig Slaight was the Director of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)'s Young Conservatory (Y.C.), retiring after 29 years at the Bay Area's premier nonprofit theatre organization. During his time at A.C.T. he taught in all of the Conservatory programs and served as a resident director on the Geary Theater main stage. As both a director and an acting teacher, he worked passionately to provide a creative and dynamic place for young people to learn and grow in the theatre arts and in August of 1994, he received the President's Award from The Educational Theater Association for Outstanding Contributions to Youth Theater.

Jack Sharrar is Director of Academic Affairs for the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), where he teaches in the M.F.A. program. He has served as a theatre panelist for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, has taught both university and secondary theatre arts for over thirty years. A director of over fifty plays and musicals, actor, and author of numerous award-winning volumes of scenes and monologues, he is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a Ph.D. in theater history and dramatic literature from the University of Utah.