Christine wanted to audition for the school's production of The Crucible. The audition form that Mr. Green (the drama teacher) had posted on the call board instructed all students who wanted to audition to prepare a 1 minute long dramatic monologue. Christine was feeling stressed because she had no idea what a monologue was!

Christine's friend and classmate, Ralph, saw that she was upset about something and asked, "Hey, what's the matter Christine?"

"Well," Christine sighed, "I really want to audition for the school play. The audition form says to prepare a 1 minute monologue, but I don't know what a monologue is!"

Christine frowned and asked Ralph hopefully, "Do you know what a monologue is?"

Ralph answered Christine, "A monologue is prolonged dialogue or a speech spoken by a single character in a play. It's a good way for the director to see what you can do with your voice and body while you act."

Christine pondered what Ralph was saying. "So basically, I need to prepare a segment of dialogue spoken by a single character from a play?" she checked.

Ralph nodded and said encouragingly, "Yes, that's all there is to it! For my audition, I am going to perform Hamlet's famous To be or not to be speech!"

Christine smiled. "Hey!" she exclaimed, "I've heard of that speech! Now I know exactly what a monologue is! Thank you so much for your help, Ralph. I better go pick my monologue, and practice!"

Ralph nodded and said, "Good idea. I'm gonna go practice too. I'll see you at auditions!"

They waved goodbye.

On the day of auditions, Christine performed her monologue as best as she could. She ended up picking a selection from the play All My Sons by Arthur Miller, who also wrote The Crucible.

Ralph also auditioned that day, and he performed a piece from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, just as he had told Christine.