Actor Edward Daniels, creator of DC’s first ever head to head actor competition Monologue Madness, announced the results from the March 13th Selection Sunday held at the Dupont Circle Hotel. Judges scored 58 actors, all of whom will go on to compete for prizes, including the top $1,000 cash prize, on April 3rd.
The top 8 scoring actors have been ‘seeded’ in the final tournament draw. Basketball fans will no doubt, understand what that means. For the rest of us, Daniels broke it down this way: “Based on scoring at the Open Call, as with basketball and other tournament sports, the more skilled contestants are selectively arranged in the draw for position in the tournament so that they meet each other in later rounds. Technically, if the seeds hold up, they will meet in the later rounds. However, that is not guaranteed. Some of their lower scoring opponents can deliver amazing performances and upset any given seed.”
The 8 top-seeded contestants are: Dionne Audain, Joe Brack, Tonya Ross, Gabi Stapula, Hilary Kacser, Lisa Hodsoll, Charlene Smith, Matthew Ancarrow, followed closely by Kathleen Alvania, Cherie Weinert, Cori Dioquino, Bruce Rauscher, Josh Murray, Tara Handron, and David Zimmerman. The tournament draw has been posted at MonologueMadness.net.
Tickets ($15) are on sale now for Championship Sunday on April 3, 2011 and Daniels promises an exciting event, with actors turning in their A game, as the crowd cheers them on. The action starts at 6pm. Arrive early to get best seats and order drinks from the Passenger Bar. It all takes place at Warehouse Theater, 1017 7th Ave NW, in DC. (enter around the corner on New York Avenue.)
Daniels promises to produce another Monologue Madness next year. The actor and popular DJ isn’t out of great competition ideas, not by a long shot. Get ready for the ‘Madness’ competition for musicals performers, tentatively titled ‘Show Tune Showdown’, and scheduled for this summer.
Thanks for doing something cool and new, Edward. You created an opportunity for actors to make some money and gain professional visibility; and you’re energizing an audience to want to attend theatre. Someone always feels entitled to judge, but what are they doing to help the population recognize the importance of art and artists?
I personally loathe monologue auditions. Then again, I’m not very good at them.
But I can’t imagine being offended or revolted by a competition I am not being coerced to attend and in which I am not required to participate.
Fact is, I’m having a real hard time forming any sort of an opinion about Monologue Madness at all, except that some people I know seem to be liking it, enjoying it, maybe picking up some scratch from it … hey wait – that DOES piss me off!
As a competitor, I have to say that one of the biggest reasons I registered for the open call was because I was looking for a way to get back into theater. I’ve been absent from the theater for the last year and was really itching to get back on stage and act again. I posted on Facebook that I was looking for leads on any upcoming theater auditions and events and my friend forwarded to me the information for Monologue Madness.
The opportunity to get in front of your peers and other industry professionals to show that you have what it takes and know what you’re doing enough to progress as an actor and an artist was what drew me to this competition. Admittedly, the prizes were incredibly appealing, but ultimately I needed something to motivate me to work. Monologues are not my strongest suit, at least in my opinion, and I had (until now) only two that I ever really used for auditions. I needed a reason to research more monologues and practice auditioning.
I agree with Edward: whoever posted that comment has clearly never had the pressure of trying to pursue a full-time career in the arts AND support yourself financially and any working professional in theater, film or any other art industry will tell you – pride aside – that, while it’s noble to want to keep art “pure” or, as ‘actor’ says “classy” and “dignified” (whatever that means), it’s virtually impossible to do anything without proper funding and finances. The top 16 not only get a chance at $1000, but they also get resources that EVERY actor – professional or otherwise – needs (headshots, free acting classes, a chance to basically audition for some of the East Coast’s top directors and producers, etc.). Regardless, I walk away having practiced 3 monologues I never had in my repertoire before, leads on other potential auditioning pieces and (hopefully) new friends and opportunities to work in a profession that I love.
And at the end of the day, it’s really no one else’s place to judge what someone else does with their life or career. No one’s holding a gun to your head and forcing you to compete. If you find it so reprehensible, that’s really your problem. But don’t try and force your arrogant and somewhat naive ideals of art and life down other people’s throats.
That is all.
Cori D.
I don’t have anything to do with this event, so forgive me if my own two cents is completely irrelevant, but to step out of the emotional attachment to either argument for a second, I think this is a fascinating little debate. I was conferring with a colleague recently, not about this competition specifically but about the general topic of what is “the best” and how and who determines that and how it’s kind of silly to worry about it or strive for it. It always comes down to an individual person’s or individual people within a group’s opinion. You can only strive for your personal best in any given moment. If Monologue Madness encourages an actor to do that, I think it’s great. $1,000 is a pretty fantastic deal, too.
I will say, though, that I see “actor’s” point about a number system. It’s kind of arbitrary, it seems, and pretty embarrassing for a competitor who has a bad day to have their “score” posted publicly, BUT. If you can’t remember going in that those “scores” are an individual person or people’s opinions (forgive me, I don’t know anything about the competition is run), just like if you can’t remember that getting a role out of any given audition doesn’t mean you aren’t a fabulous actor, maybe acting as a profession isn’t for you. Just like if a person who takes those scores of a single competition judged by individuals for steadfast proof of whether someone can act or not, that person should… em, sit down and be quiet, to put it mildly. If you don’t like the competition, don’t participate.
I agree with Joe in that I don’t think doing a monologue for a chance to win $1,000 is “revolting,” or “offensive.” I don’t think it means you’re not a collaborative artist. I think it means you got bills to pay and you’re gonna do what you love trying to pay them.
As a naturally competitive (to a fault) person, I struggle to remember with every audition that it’s not about who is the best ACTOR, but who is the best for the role. I don’t think it’s quite fair to insinuate that someone who didn’t get a callback from an initial monologue audition isn’t good enough to be a working actor (though I may have misinterpreted Edward Daniels’s statement that “every casting call results in the best actors getting parts”, apologies if so). Often at open calls they have a season in place and an actor might not fit anything for that season. Or they might have had an off day. Everyone has an off day. We’re young and we’re still sharpening our craft.
“gg” mentioned above that a monologue is like a 90-second play, which is a way I love to think of it. Some people love doing monologues at auditions, so for those folks, I think this competition is a fun and great idea. I personally often have to remind myself of “gg’s” point of view, and something a teacher once told me about an audition just being a chance to perform for a small audience for 90 seconds.
I don’t know how coherent my comment is. I’m not really arguing either side, and don’t mean to step on any toes, just adding my thoughts to an open forum.
Just to put my two cents in here – I do find the idea of a competitive, seeded monologue showdown to be mildly offensive to delicate sensibilites, for the reasons that “actor” states above. But it’s not any more or less skeevy or bureaucratic than any cattle-call audition. The business aspects of theater are just as important as the noble, artistic aspects, and if you’ve been successful in it, you have to contend with both.
Also, keep in mind that an independent 90-second monologue is like a little short play, for which the actor is producer, director, and performer. It is one of the few times in their profession (unless they are someone who creates devised work) where they get to choose the text, the character, the style, the costumes, do their own blocking, etc. It’s a unique creative venture, and the only one which is fully under their control. While these isolated monologues may not showcase what makes an individual perfect to plug into a role in Chekov, they are still valuable.
Morally reprehensible? Really? Here’s all the good things I can see about this:
1. We get to practice doing monologues (and different types as well).
2. We get to perform monologues in front of DC theatre professionals some of whom direct and cast.
3. We get to see our fellow actors perform monologues, which is both entertaining and educational.
4. Working actors are poor. At the end of this, one of DC’s working actors will have $1,000 that will help him or her with groceries and rent.
Even if you forget all of the above, I’m willing to bet the competition is just going to be plain fun.
Well now, I didn’t realize that there was a discussion on this post. I’m just walking in the door from a very inspirational dinner discussion with an artistic colleague and I must say, first and foremost, that because I just had one of the most motivational conversations that I’ve had in years, with someone who’s work and career I value and respect greatly, I’m not about to waste (too much of) my time responding to such an ignorant post, submitted by someone who doesn’t even have the courage and ‘class and dignity’, as you put it above, to back these comments with your own name. Really? You have feedback on my project, yet you can’t even sign off on your response?
I’ve competed all of my life in the world of arts and athletics and chose to follow my passion by committing to a full-time career in theatre & film. I can only assume that you are not a working professional in this business if, for one moment, you believe that you are not competing every day of your working life to produce great work. Of course we collaborate, create, produce, and share stories and ideas. We present these stories & ideas to an audience who take away from them what they will. Most importantly, they learn and take something away from the work they see.
I’d like to believe that, as an actor, I am chosen and given the opportunity to tell a story, because I was the best person at a given casting call, to be hired for that job. What transforms an artist from actor to ‘working’ actor, what advances one from ‘casting’ to ‘callback’ is the monologue that he or she presents. That simple 90-second tool is what gives an actor a second chance at casting. Sure, a show can be cast a thousand times over with the amount of talent in this world. However, every casting call results in the best actors getting parts.
In a city overshadowed by the Federal Government, I am ecstatic to bring this new event to the DC theatre community and am thrilled at the buzz that it has received. We have a vibrant theatre scene here and audiences are treated to hundreds of amazing performances each year. With Monologue Madness, an audience now has the chance to see how an actor even gets selected to perform on some of the great stages that they frequent.
I’ve poured and continue to pour my soul into this event and every actor involved, whether they go out in Round 1 or the Final Round with $1000 in hand, will have pocketed an array of opportunities to help nurture and grow their careers, as they showcase their work before an experienced panel of judges and live audience.
New York City has the insanely popular Manhattan Monologue Slam, Chicago has the Monologue Matchup Competition, and DC now has Monologue Madness. Alongside The Academy Awards, The Tony Awards, & The Helen Hayes Awards, they all ‘publicly rank art on a numbered system’ and the BEST of a given season or on a given night are rewarded for their work!
Edward Lee Daniels, Jr., Producer
Monologue Madness
[expletive removed by editor] I am a collaborative artist in every sense. I enjoy and pour my heart into my work. Every moment I spend rehearsing, auditioning, and performing is stained with all kinds of me. Monologue Madness offers local performers a chance to showcase their auditioning skills, and maybe win some very much needed cash, and/or reading materials. I enjoy theatre. In all its forms. Competitive or otherwise, $1000.00 pays more than my half the rent. Simple ass.
Except that in auditions, you’re doing a monologue for a specific role. Even at open cattle calls, directors and casting people have seasons in mind to fit people for. Somebody who gets cast from one audition might not even get a callback at another.
What is “the best” in a 90 second piece of text completely out of context? If Mr. Daniels or Slammo or whoever has to think of auditions as competition and not a meeting between artists to find the best fit, at LEAST there is a necessity for that “competition.” All this event does is provide arbitrary reinforcement of competition rather than collaboration.
FURTHERMORE, seeds?! SEEDS?! Publicly ranking art on a NUMBER system? Really?!
Somebody might agree with actor but I sure don’t. This sounds exciting and fun to me. Competition, whether it’s monologue madness, the Helen Hayes, or the Tonys, helps to establish concrete goals and to sharpen performance. And, if the point is not obvious already, it’s the condition in which we all live, actors and nonactors alike. Every time actor auditions he’s in a kind of monologue madness, though it is not acknowledged as such, and when he auditions it is not artistically offensive (I assume) or morally revolting; he is not a whore; and no one is dog fighting. He is attempting to display his skills to his best advantage, just as the competitors are doing here. So lighten up!
am i the only person who thinks this competition is artistically offensive and morally revolting? aren’t we in this business to create collaborative art and tell stories? or are we in it to whore ourselves out and be considered “the best”? aren’t there classier, more dignified, and less outright dogfighting ways to showcase yourself as an artist than to compete in some american idol ripoff?