Obligatory answer to part one of the assignment:
In the monologue I watched (option 1) the protagonist was speaking to her co-workers and customers in her MLM scheme.
The juicy shit I know y'all are here for:
You wanna hear what’s on my mind? I’ll bite. My brother refuses to self-quarantine, that’s what’s on my mind. I can’t even ask the boy to wash his hands without starting a big to-do. I have not seen my girlfriend for the better part of a fortnight and my brother is over at his sweetheart’s house getting covered in who knows what germs her mom brought back from the west coast. And he still ain’t wash his hands when he steps through the door! The bitch got pinkeye and still didn’t learn his lesson to stay well enough inside. I don’t think an act of god would scare a lick of sense into that boy. My dad is immunosuppressed due to his medication and at this point he’s literally offering to pay my brother to stay inside. Fuckin’ reincarnation of Typhoid Mary, that’s what that boy is.
So that’s what's been scaring me lately. I stink to high heaven because I share a bathroom with him and I already have extremely unsubstantiated fears about what goes on in that bathroom when I’m not looking, let alone adding pinkeye to the mix. Lord help me when I have to return to polite society after living in this self imposed squalor.
The play I read personally was “Spoonfuls of Water”. I’m not too good at focusing on reading, especially plays, so I convinced my girlfriend to help me stage a private table read over discord. I know I’ve said this in class and I’ll say it again, but I love reading plays in this class because you just KNOW some messy shit is gonna come out by act two. I got to play Elliot recounting the memory of his sister dying and talk about catharsis. I tried to muster a north philly latino accent for the part but all I ended up with was an inconsistent generic new york accent but it was fun nonetheless. Anyway, I like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur of drama, but that drama is usually me causing interpersonal problems in my daily life for no reason and then trying to solve them. Maybe if I pursued my dreams of being a stage actress, I’d finally stop causing so many problems for myself. Food for thought. Perhaps in a later journal I’ll delve more into the daily trials and tribulations of suffering through a particularly severe case of borderline personality disorder. Well, severe is a strong word. I’ve never been to inpatient. Almost 5150’d once, but only almost. I ain’t the messiest bitch on the block, but I sure as hell ain’t the cleanest. Hey, that’s an idea for a monologue: woman gets woken up at 1:30 by the fuckin’ cops outside her window and now its 5 in the goddamn morning and she’s gotta lie her ass off to get outta being committed. Now there’s a story messy enough for a drama class.
Well, you asked for 3 things, and that’s kinda only two. I don’t really feel comfortable sharing the third thing on such a public forum, but if anybody really wants to know, reach out. I doubt I’m the only one feeling like a goddamn lunatic right now.
This has been your one and only Cadence, live to you from her bedroom, which in some ways has become her entire world, and in some ways already was. Wash ya damn hands everyone. Peace.
Oh Cadence, our one and only. I have been missing your sharp insights and wit; it is a joy to read your thoughts. I had to read your "reincarnation of Typhoid Mary" out loud so I could laugh at it all over again. Thank you for sharing your underworld.
I am glad that you could do a table read of Water by the Spoonful; I bet it was awesome. I'm sure your Philly accent killed it. This writer also wrote the book for In The Heights, if you have ever seen that.
I have no doubt that you have a few monologue inspiration points racing through that mind of yours. next week, we are going to start zeroing in on some idea. I am super excited to see what you want to write about.
until then, good luck avoiding the pink eye.