Customer Reviews

Monologues on Black Life

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am so glad I bought this book. It offers an array of monologues for the African American actor to develop. Gus delivers monologues that provide incredible insight to our culture and our everyday drama using some humor, reflection, and rebellion. The book has a section for monologues that are fresh and vibrant for any audition piece. Then it sections off to short scenes and character portrayals. The "Mavis" character is a challenge for any aspiring Lead Actress because we actually see the way in which she evolves through the consequences of her choices as though we are watching a complete production. The same type of personal development is portrayed with Derelict and other characters as well. This book has monologues for men as well as women of all age ranges. I absolutely love this book. Why then didn't I give it 5 stars? Well though the monologues are great-they are rather lengthy for an actor going to many auditions per day. They can generally take 4 to 7 minutes to perform. I don't consider myself good at cutting monologues short, and I would love for Gus to write some monologues 3 minutes and other.

I bought this book above others to get a sense of monologues that many minorities including myself could possibly relate to. Instead I found that I had bought a book filled with cliches and stereotypes. The book was a great disappointment and full of doom and gloom. Some of the monologues seemed to treat a potential audience with little respect. It would be refreshing to have a black author of monologue or soliloquy write of positive black experience along with negative. I give one star for his ability to write and also for producing something that seems rare in the search of relatable material.