Imagine a yellow onion straight from the market. The "outer skin" is papery, brown, and dry. If you peel that off, you will expose the next layer, still brown and papery, but a little less dry than the first one. The next layer may be dry at the top and bottom, but white and moist in the middle. If you want ot eat the onion, you will have to peel off several layers.
Characters are like onions: they have many layers, and getting to the part that the audience wants to see takes working through each layer carefully. The first is in the text of the play -- what is said about the character, what he or she says about him or herself, and what the author may have said in the character description at the beginning. The next layer comes from the subtext -- what is implied in the text but never said. If the character is non-fictional, the next layer will comes from what was said about him or her throughout history or in media. And the final layer comes from the actor's and director's own personal interpretations.
Peel a character today, and discover the delicious and nutritious parts hidden beneath the protective outer layers!
Apply the idea of peeling an onion to your character. Whether you are a Mother, a Child or even an Ogre, you have LAYERS! What are the four layers of the character in your monologue? 
In my monologue “Journey to Nowhere”, my character doesn’t care about anything. She spends her time stealing and thinks it’s a joke. She knows it’s wrong but she keeps doing it. There are many layers to my character. First my character looks at herself as if she had nothing to live for. She loves the feeling of stealing and she’s going to keep doing it. Secondly, my character shows a lot of disrespect for herself and she probably has no goals for herself in life. Based on the things she does I think she might snap out if this phase. She might be hanging out with wrong crowed and with my actions I can probably show she wants to change her ways and be a better person.
ReplyDeleteIn the monologue that i'm performing, " The Vision of a Champion," my character has the mindset of a winner and is determined to do all that it takes to become a champion. First place is what my character is aiming for because anything less is unacceptable. He knows that the road to his success will have a lot of set backs on the way up, but he is willing to do all that it takes to get past these obstacles to come out on top as the champion he knows he can be. Based on the way that my character is presented in the monologue, i think that he wants to have a great future where many opportunities will be presented to him. In my mind, i vision this character working hard from ever since he was a small boy, and growing up into this huge success that is still continuing to work hard, even though he has accomplished all that he wanted to in life. The way that i act with this monologue can really show the goals that the character has and will portray his accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue , the fall of innocence my character feels like people sometimes only talk to her when they want something. my characters first layer shows that there is the someone looking for they are .she thinks that she has a good standard of where she is but is confused of the paths that her friend decides to take and wonders how this happened to her. The second layer is That my character has a standard for herself. She knows when to do and not to do something that everyone else is doing. She doesn't wan the people that she hangs around with to be like that either. My characters third layer isn't really shown to me. However , I think that she wants to change the things that's around her the way she describes her friend and her friends circumstances that somewhat affects her as well.
ReplyDeleteIn the monologue that i'm performing "the unlucky one", my character has the mindset of how he views society in his opinion. My character is about understanding the world as what can connect to me in a way. My Character has a unique way in explaining himself and how he views himself to the others. my by the way my charter is portrayed in the monologue i think he wants too have a great sense of input in society as a whole. He doesn't want to become lost by society and how each person has a different role they must play.
ReplyDeleteIm my monolouge, "The Fall of Innocence", it shows the many layers of her as a character. The first layer is that she is trying to understand who she is. This is because she is prayin to God askin him for forgiveness. The second layer is her taking ownership for what she has done. This shows how she has prayed to God and it is helping. My character has took a lot of initiative in doin so. This has caused her to peel back another layer. That layer is her being herself. She is trying to be a better person. By her being herself, it shows how she is getting familiar with the audience. The third layer is her taking a stand for herself. She has allowed herself to feel better about what she has done. She knows what she has done was wrong and doesn't want to face the fact that her best friend is gone because of her. The last layer is my character facing the fact that she is gone. She doesn't realize that she is they rain on her parade. She is gone because she was irresponsible and didn't listen.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue, "The Fall of Innocence", my character is trying to come to terms with Isabelle,her best friend who died. Her outlook on life, in the moment, is unjust because she lost her best friend due to her actions. n the second layer, she's reminiscing about her best friend and all the joyful memories they shared. In the third layer, my character endlessly goes over the past in which she drank beer just to impress boys. As a result, when she was drinking and driving, she killed Isabelle. Lastly, another layer that my character has is that she has a somewhat belief in God, and that's why she's praying to Him to bring Isabelle back which is also not likely. All in all, my character is feeling guilty over the death of her best friend,and her view on society is unfairness because she's unable to bring Isabelle back.
ReplyDeleteI personally am doing a monologue of the opposite sex, so it will be a challenge to try to unpeal the layers of my character. My character's G.O.T.E can help to break down the subtext and the moment before. Joey, the protagonist of my monologue, has a goal to save his girlfriend from a terrible car accident and he uses few tactics to reach his goal. I have to dig into the many layers to find the obstacles that are stopping him and what he will do with the end in mind.
ReplyDeleteIn the monologue I plan to perform , my character has few layers. The first layer you have o get through is how much she worries about everything around her . She's always worrying about the luck her sister faces and tries to see if she faces any bad luck like herself. The second layer you see is that she has no faith in her self . She's placing her faith in this whole concept of good luck and bad luck . As a result , she thinks that just because her sister faces more good luck than bad luck , she's just simply an unlucky individual. At the end of the monologue she brings up this whole putting arsenic in the meatloaf to kill her sister. She's letting something unreal go to her head
ReplyDeleteThe monologue I am pursuit of is "Journey To Nowhere" which means my character is a 1st stage theif. The first of the four layers of my character is how Julie feels about herself which is almost seen as proud. She describes how she recieves a adrenaline rush upon her taking if her stepmother's ring. The next layer my character has is her inner thoughts that she has yet to have said out loud' By saying that she feels as if she can do anything shows how she enjoys stealing and probally wouldn't mind stealing something else. The third layer is how my character is seen through the eyes of the media. According to the media, my character would be seen as a theif. However society will assume that she will steal several times after her first offense. The last layer of my character is my personal view of her. I honestly can't relate to my character but I see her as a daredevil who's just looking for a cheap thrill in which she found in theft. These are the layers of my character.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue "Terms of Engagement", my character, Evan, has the task of getting his parents out of his room. The reason his father is in there is because Evan got a C on his report card. The adjectives that I perceive from him are intelligent and lazy. The reason Evan can be perceived as intelligent is because he is getting good grades otherwise. He has A's, except for that one mistake. From this, we can tell that he is somewhat intelligent. Yet, he is also lazy. The way in which I inferred this was because he got a C, and then all A's. When a person is also on high honor roll, and then there's a C just sitting there preventing that, there could have been something the student could have done in order to stop that from happening. For the first layer, Evan is made out to be lazy, but he believes that the C is OK. For the second layer, what is implied from the text is that he is lazy. For the third layer, what is said about him through his grades is that he is intelligent in some form, but he is also somewhat lazy. For the fourth layer, Evan believes that he is smart. He believes that the C does not actually matter.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue, my character is trying to question God to find answer to why her friend life was taking and not hers. She is upset by the whole situation and constantly blame herself. She felt as if she could have prevented the situation from happening. My character wants to see a smiling face someone to tell her it isn't her fault and everything is going to be okay. I think that the complexity of this monologue makes the charcter's true goal hard to identify.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue my character is constantly unquestioning why her friends like was taken and not her own. What the author implies in this monologue is that she wishes that she was the one who would've died in the car crash that occur the night of her friends death. My character feels as though it is her fault that her friend was killed so tragically. My character has many obstacles that she has to face to realize her true purpose on this earth with the help of God.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue "The Vision of a Champion" my character tries to show what it means to be a champion to his team. He wants to show how what they have done has already made them champions in his book. He tries to show this through giving examples that can help them see how a champion looks. He basically wants to instill that everyone here are champions because the put in the work that has made them the best, 1st place winners.
ReplyDeleteIn the monologue, "Mom" my character Katelynn wants to tell her mother that she needs her. Throughout her language, she struggles to tell her sick mother how she really feels. I can tell Katelynn and her mother do not have a close relationship because of how hard it is for her to tell the mom how she's feeling. In addition to that, Katelynn is not a very open person. She's very aloof and keeps most of he feelings to herself. While admitting to her mother that she really loves her, she mentions other family members as if to say that she's not the only one that needs her. I know that when an individual has a hard time getting their personal messages through, they bring up other people or compare themselves with others to not seem as weak. Therefore, Katelynn wants to somehow reveal her thoughts towards her mother but still be her tough, unconcerned self. One last layer about my character is that Katelynn is really upset about her mother being sick, however she has high hopes for her. She believes that her mother is strong enough to fight her illness but she's making sure to remind her of it. She wants to send across the message that she admires her! Because of her lack of communication with her mother, Katelynn is not able to tell her mother lucidly that she sees her as a role model. One can tell that she admires her by when Katelynn mentions how important and reliable the mother is. As you can see, Katelynn reveals three layers of her onion when talking to her mother: lack of communication, relevance of true character, and admiration towards her mother.
ReplyDelete-Erika Saladin
Sophomore
Nkiru
In my monologue, "The Fall of Innocence", it shows the many layers of her as a character. The first layer that she faces is trying to understand herself. Marie is trying to question herself in a way that she puts the pieces together about her friend's death. The second layer that she must face is the guilt. In the end, she believes that it is her fault that her friend dies and the guilt is eating her alive. In order for her to feel any better,she goes to God to feel any better. The third layer she peels away is self righteousness. Marie is a teen you has to accept that her friend is gone and she can't do anything to fix it . The final layer that she has to peel away is accepting what has happened. After she has accepted what has happened to her friend, she will be able to move on with her life. This is the only way my character can live in peace and not suffer as the reason her best friend died.
ReplyDeleteFor theatre, I am doing the monologue, 'Journet to Nowhere.' My character, Julie Roth, shows her layers herself. She doesn't have an author or a brief description. This already shows what type of person she is. The first layer is shown by Julie Roth. She says herself that she takes things without asking and she likes it more when she gets away with it. Roth's second layer is that she wants people to understand why she does what she does, steals, even though she doesn't admit it. However, her third layer is that she doesn't mind getting caught, and she doesn't care if her stepmother leaves money around because she doesn't care for money. Lastly, her fourth layer, regarding me, I feel like the character, Julie Roth, feels guilty but doesn't want to say anything. She's keeping her guard up and hiding herself.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue "The Fall of Innocence," there are multiple different sides (layers) that are shown through the protagonist. One layer shown was the ability to understand oneself. Marie is not able to understand why. She always questions why something always has to happen to her. Another layer is a form of not accepting. She cant accept what happend to isabella. She doesnt want to accept the fact that she is gone but unfortunaly she has to. I do not know how my charater should cope with these layers ,but I think it comes with the idea of understanding.
ReplyDeleteI have chosen a female monologue called "Journey to Nowhere". The fact that it has no name or age gives me lots of freedom. Therefore one layer from her character would be a feisty, spoiled rich girl about 13 years old. I chose this because it is what is explicitly shown in the passage. The way she quickly answers a question accusingly and without care of who she is speaking with and how she is speaking to them. The general plot is that the character stole her mother's ring. She did it to see how long she could get away without noticing that the ring is gone. She gets bitter by saying that if she doesn't notice that her ring is gone, then her mother doesn't care about it enough to care. therefore I have concluded from the subtext that her mother neglects her.
ReplyDeleteIman Yusuff
My monologue is titled "Terms of Engagement". A boy, that i have named Johnny, is being pressured by his parents. He wants to be left alone and be independent. He almost seems as if he has no respect for his parents. He refuses to listen to them and try to reason. His stubbornness even becomes just plain rudeness. Although he doesn't realize it, his parents have his future in mind. But he doesn't care. He considers it an invasion of his privacy and refuses to listen to them. From this I have concluded that Johnny is fighting for his independence and rights, but is doing it the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteIn My monolouge,"Mom", My character Katelynn wants her mom to get better. Her mom is going through Chemo and is in a Coma and isnt waling up. She's afraid but it holding up because she has to worry about her dad and brother, Greg. I chose this becase i know this is how i would feel if my mom was in this situation. My mom is like the lifeline of my family. without her, everything wouldn't be the same. Therefore, my character is trying to hold in but deep inside, she;s afraid and broken
ReplyDeleteFaith Glenn
Nkiru
In my monologue, " Mom " my characters four layers are her being a teenage girl losing her mom, being a child, dealing with emotions, and potentially being the only girl left with her father, brother, and dog. Katelynn is potentially losing her mom to cancer. As children we tend to test our parents and make it a Little hard to raise. So she has to deal with the feeling of " I should of did this " or " only if I had a little more time " . If she loses her mom then she has to deal with a whole new set of responsibility and aloness being left with boys. Being a teenage girl she hasn't yet experienced everything she's going to encounter so she needs that mother figure in her life. She plays an important role in her mother's development in this stage of her life. She needs to stand as a support system and let her mom know she's loved so she can continue fighting.
ReplyDeleteAshanti Greene
Nkiru
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe monologue i will be performing is "Mom" and in this monologue the four layers are taht my character is not secretive , reflective, and have a strong relationship with her mother. the second layer she wished her mother never got sick and got cancer. for her third layer thsi is her second year of highschool and shes making big life choices for her future. finally, she expect her mother to be considerate , hear and think about how much they need her and come back to beig herself. jasmine c ( nkiru)
ReplyDeleteThe monologue i will be performing is "MOM" and in this monologue the layers are hard to decpher. However ive discovered that the text of the "play" shows me she depressed. The subtext implies that shes hoping and praying that her mother will live. Through the history of media it shows that she wants her mother in her life. She want her mother to get throught the cancer inorder to be there as she grows up. Lastly, she continues to say that she cant take care of her dad and brothjer on her own which is why she needs her mother to fight.
ReplyDeleteFor my monologue, I will be portraying a character of the opposite sex named Joey. In the monologue, Joey is in group therapy discussing the loss of his girlfriend when they both got into a car accident trying to escape their problems at home. Joey has problems with his mother since she tries to break up Joey and his girlfriend and because his mom has a lot of children. His girlfriend's father also tries to break them up so Joey must feel that he is not good enough to satisfy anyone. Joey also feels a lot of regret for being the cause of his girlfrind's death. Portraying Joey will be difficult, however I look forward to expand my acting skills.
ReplyDeleteAmanee Hatcher
Courage
my character name is katelynn whitaker
ReplyDelete1) my characer is said to be sad because she wants her mother to get better and get out the hospital
but also mad because she is tried of taking care of the house by herself
2)when my character says "i don't want you to die" she is really saying that she doesn't want her to die because she don't wnt the house to herself
3) the monologue says that my character was sweet and thoughtful about her mother.
also she wanted better for her life
4) My own interpretation abouit the monologue is that it's very sweet, sad, and relates exactly to me because my mon was also in the hospital for a long time
In my monolgue, Evan is acting like an onion. He has an outer layer where he is just tolerating his dad. His inside layer is about to explode.He is really getting tired of his dad being in his business. He just wants to be on his own without his dad interferring so much in his life because she is a teenager.
ReplyDeleteIn my Monologue, Marie is like a juicy onion. She's bursting with sad flavor unfortunately thought. On the outside, she looks stable and boring and as if nothing is wrong. But as time goes on, she starts to peel away that shell and reveal how sad she actually is about the drunk driving accident with her best friend.
ReplyDeleteIn my monologue “The Visions of a Champion” we see how Joe is seen as a loser by the way he so aspires to be a champion, a winner. Joe can only be a champion if he believes it because he will be a loser. The adversity and obstacles Joe is talking about are what normal champions face. “How can I be better than the next person?” The only way to beat the next person is to be the next person. You can’t just wake up and be a champion; you have to grow over time and become a champion and face trials and tribulations in order to progress.
ReplyDelete1) The outer most shell is who everyone sees. Everyone sees Joe as a regular, normal teenage and is “ordinary.”
2) The 2nd outer shell, Joe begins to grow meaning he becomes someone stronger, he is still seen as a regular person.
3) The 3rd shell shows Joe to be a semi-champion because he is a 2nd place champion; someone who is always determined to do better but will never come out on top.
4) The inner shell is Joe’s champion and he’s a leader and he has faced many obstacles but he managed to break through the shackles of adversity.