Dramatic Monologue High School

Nervous, I took a steady breath to calm myself. The warm, dimly-lit classroom-turned-actors’-lounge was filled with children. These kids however, wore oddly assorted costumes completed with makeup-caked faces. A boy in a suit with a flamboyant tie and glasses commented, “Do I look shiny?” earning a giggle from the company.
A girl dressed in similar clothing stood up, tap shoes clacking against the tiled floor, and, pulling the boy aside she announced, “Stop Len! We need to head onstage.” The actors responded, “Bye!” nerves permeating their voices. With a final smile, the two vanished into the darkness behind the curtains.
The classroom fell into eerie silence. I felt as if we were in space, with the dim lights and odd silence creating an atmosphere of isolation. For months, we had gone to practice, memorized seemingly endless lines, and grown closer together as we put on this play. Now, the exit of Len and Kristina meant the show was beginning. It was a rude awakening to the fact that it was time to showcase our talents. I pulled my chair across the room to a group of about nine kids, creating a louder SQUEAK than I intended. All forty-eight heads swiveled to look at me. My cheeks grew red as a summer sunset. Careful to keep my chair
The only things we could see were the glow-in-the-dark lines of tape on the floor. My breathing grew quick and ragged. My heart pounded. I placed foot in front of foot as the voices on stage signaled that my time was near. I saw the light. The burning, intense, yellow light of the stage. Standing in the wings, I could see a group of kids leaving the stage the opposite way. I gave Omara a little push, her dress ruffling. She walked on stage. She said her line of “__________”. I walked on stage, saw the audience of faces, and thought, It’s time. The moment I’ve been waiting for is here. I took a deep breath, making sure the audience didn’t notice, and began the scene with my line of “Are you okay,