Finding a good monologue can be a task. Use this monologue as an audition piece, as a way to practice acting on a regular basis, and as an instrument to add to your arsenal of tools used by actors. Play the role of Kayla, a beauty queen who made it to the top ten but was eliminated from the top five contestants in the fictional Miss U. S. of A. pageant. This monologue tells her surprisingly insightful, often humorous and sometimes tragic story.
The setting is backstage at the Miss U. S. of A. pageant.
As the lights come up, Kayla, a beauty queen who made it to the top ten, but was eliminated from the top five, appears. She is not a caricature of a beauty queen but a living, breathing, intelligent and multifaceted woman. She smiles. Waves. Takes a deep breath. And tells her story.
KAYLA
Before being crowned Miss Texas, U. S. of A. I lost one hundred and eighty-nine pounds! I've been fat my whole life! Luckily I don't have a medical condition like a thyroid problem. Obesity does not run in my family. I simply had a mother who fed me pork rinds and milk shakes for breakfast. When the kids at school called me, "Kayla the Whale-a," mama helped me drown my sorrows in pound cake with extra chocolate sauce. But the pageantry changed everything. Once I saw myself in a bathing suit on television, it was easy to swap Twinkies for a treadmill. Now I am the founder of a motivational program entitled, "Freeing the Fatso Within." "Kayla the Whale-a" was not my only label in grade school. Being that I dared to have an opinion I was also dubbed, "loud-mouthed fatso." It doesn't have to be clever to be cruel. Not only was I overweight, but I lived in a trailer park. And my family was on welfare. Consequently, I earned additional labels like lazy and stupid. My daddy lost his job when his plant moved to Mexico. Mama worked in a bakery that was attached to a liquor store. Food items were free. You try planning a menu for five children with food from a bakery and a liquor store. But it wasn't an issue for long because a WalMart moved in across the street forcing the bakery to close down. My brother thought he'd help out by joining the Marines. He was killed in Afghanistan. By friendly fire. You might say my family was living the American nightmare. I developed quite an opinion about the system in which we live. But no one cared about my opinion. Then I saw that Miss Burnet, Texas was going to speak at fifty-six public engagements during her reign. I realized that the pageantry was the only accessible venue for me to nurture my voice. All I had to do was lose the weight. It was truly amazing. In one year I went from being a loud-mouth fatso to a well-spoken beauty -- without changing one single word. As a beauty candidate I made over two thousand public appearances. No one tired of the Kayla-the-Whalea story. In my travels, I was astounded by the number of people who had their own tales of childhood labels. Yet no one ever bragged about being a bully. How could this be? We can't all be victims. Then I remembered my own young attempts at retaliation. I used to call evil Monica Snyder "Treasure" on account of her sunken chest. Today, that woman is probably paying a plastic surgeon for her new, super-sized enhancements. My motivational program, "Freeing the Fatso Within" has nothing to do with losing weight. It's about realizing that we are all simply running from our childhood labels. No matter how much weight I lose, I will always be Kayla-the-Whale-a. When I won the junior high science fair, everyone attacked my appearance. When I became a beauty queen, they crucified my mind. Consequently, I learned that labels are the fuel of empowerment. How else could a fat, lazy, stupid, sucking-the-system-dry, trailer- park-trash kid amount to anything? Daddy used to call my sister and I his dream girls. I'd say that this label is the one that best describes the woman I am today.
She smiles. Waves. And leaves the stage.
Carolyn J Carpenter is an author. From blog to books, stage to screen, grants to guides, writing is the place for exploration, inspiration and inclusion. Carolyn is the CEO of Neo Ensemble Theatre, the founder of The MOTEL 6 Feet Under haunted house, and the author of a book of monologues and scenes for women entitled RANDOM WOMEN. Join her adventures at http://www.CarolynJCarpenter.com.
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