How to Choose and Prepare Your First Monologue — A Guide for Every Genre

The monologue is where it begins.

Before the audition room. Before the camera. Before the role. There is the monologue — a single actor, a single voice, and the full weight of a character's inner world on display. It is one of the most exposed things an actor can do. And it is one of the most powerful.

At The Actor Studio, we approach monologue work differently. We don't hand you a list of classical speeches and tell you to pick one. We start with you — your personality, your natural strengths, the qualities that make you special as a performer — and we build from there.

Start With Who You Are

The most common mistake actors make when choosing a monologue is picking something they admire rather than something that fits. They choose the speech that moved them in a film, or the one their favourite actor performed, or the one that sounds impressive on paper. And then they spend weeks trying to become someone they are not.

The better approach is to start with your own personality and strengths. What do you naturally bring into a room? Are you quietly intense, or openly expressive? Do you have a gift for stillness, or does your energy fill a space? Are you naturally funny, or do you carry a natural gravity?

At The Actor Studio, we begin by writing or selecting a monologue specifically around you — one that lets you lead with your strengths rather than fight against your instincts. This is not about playing it safe. It is about giving you the best possible foundation from which to take risks.

Once you are confident in that foundation, we expand. We move into characters from classic and contemporary texts. We explore different genres. We push your range — deliberately, progressively, and always in service of the work.

Drama — The Foundation of Everything

Dramatic monologues are where most actors begin, and for good reason. Drama demands the full range of the actor's instrument — emotional truth, physical presence, vocal control, and the ability to sustain a complex inner life through language.

IIn sessions at The Actor Studio, dramatic monologue work draws on Method Acting and Stella Adler technique to help you find the emotional and imaginative truth of the character.

Horror — The Genre Most Actors Underestimate

Horror is one of the most technically demanding genres for an actor — and one of the most misunderstood. The instinct is to play fear. To scream, to flinch, to perform the external signs of terror.

Use a personal traumatic event,  how to : 12 Steps Chubbuck Techniques.

It is also, unexpectedly, some of the most freeing work an actor can do. The genre gives you permission to go to extreme places — and learning to inhabit those places truthfully, 

Thriller — Precision Under Pressure

Thriller demands a different kind of control. Where horror works with fear, thriller works with tension — the sense that something is at stake, that information is being withheld, that every word carries a subtext the audience can feel but not quite name.

Monologue work in the thriller genre is an exercise in subtext. What does the character know that they are not saying? What are they trying to achieve, and what are they willing to do to achieve it? The Chubbuck technique — with its focus on the character's overriding goal and the obstacles in their way — is particularly powerful here.

Comedy — The Hardest Genre to Teach

There is a saying in the industry: dying is easy, comedy is hard. It is true. Comic timing is one of the most elusive skills in acting — and one of the most valuable.

Comedy monologue work at The Actor Studio focuses on two things: truth and timing. The truth first — because comedy that doesn't come from a real place isn't funny, it's just noise. The character must believe completely in what they are saying, even when what they are saying is absurd. Especially then.

Timing second — because comedy lives in the space between the setup and the release, and learning to feel that space, to hold it just long enough, is something that can be developed with practice. It is not a gift you either have or don't. It is a skill.

Improvisation — The Skill Beneath All Skills

Improvisation is not a genre in the traditional sense. It is a practice — and it underpins everything else. The ability to be fully present, to listen and respond in the moment, to make strong choices without a script to fall back on: these are the qualities that separate technically competent actors from genuinely compelling ones.

Improvisation also builds confidence. When you know you can handle the unexpected — when you trust yourself to find something real in any given moment — you bring a different quality of freedom to scripted work. The preparation becomes a foundation rather than a cage.

How We Work Together

Every actor who comes to The Actor Studio begins in the same place: with themselves. We identify your natural strengths, your instinctive qualities, the things you do without thinking that are already working. We build your first monologue around those qualities — so that your first experience of performing is one of confidence, not struggle.

From there, we move through the genres. We find characters from classic and contemporary texts that challenge you in specific ways. We work on Drama, Horror, Thriller, Comedy, and Improvisation — not as separate boxes, but as a connected exploration of your range as a performer.

Sessions are one-on-one, conducted online, available globally, and led personally by Actress, and Coach, Screen writer Director and Design Merete Van Kamp in Danish, German, French, Spanish, or English.

The work is serious. The environment is safe. And the goal is always the same: to help you become the most fully realised version of yourself as an actor.

→ Book your first Actor Studio session here.

Le Van Kamp Studio — tools, art, and coaching for the actor's life. Based in Paris. Available worldwide.