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“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” — William Butler Yeats
Meet Richard Gurspan and His Theater Students 
In Richard Gurspan's third period Theater class, students aren't just studying famous plays or acting out scenes written by dead playwrights. They are also creating their own dramas. Each student is writing a monologue—a passage of varying lengths spoken by one actor. They will then weave their individual pieces into a tapestry of stories that they'll perform for families and friends in May. To prime his students, Gurspan has pulled together a collection of almost one hundred monologues from playwrights spanning the twentieth century—monologues for young female women, women of color, for men and women by well-known contemporary playwrights, and more. He has asked his students to pick one they like from the collection and come prepared to read it aloud to the class. The class will then dissect it, discussing issues like tone and character development, along with acting tips. March 8, 2005
Gurspan: Okay, everybody sit down... Great.
Today we're working on monologues. As you know, that's going to be the main part of our play—everyone is going to write his or her own monologue.
As part of today's class, I need three people to come up front and read their monologue. You don't have to act it out, just read it, so that we can analyze the monologue as a class and talk about how it should be performed.
Jasmine, how about you go first. Liz, you want to go next?
Jasmine: Up there? [Pointing to the front of the room.] I don't want to go up there.
Gurspan: C'mon Jasmine, you'll be great. We're going to all work together. [Jasmine nods.]
[Students read the monologue and answer the worksheet. Gurspan sits at a desk, just like his students, facing them at the front of the class. He does exactly the same exercise they do.]
Gurspan: Okay Jasmine, are you ready to come up front?
[Jasmine takes “center stage” at the front of the classroom, pauses, and begins to read. She has chosen a monologue called “Abingdon Square”—see box to the right—and she reads it with passion. After she reads the last lines—“He wants to destroy me. But I'll destroy him first.”— the class breaks out in applause.]
Gurspan: You sure chose a tough one, Jasmine! Let's talk about it. It may be only 14 lines long, but it's difficult monologue. So, what do you think the main idea of this piece is?
Max: Somebody's got her kid, right?
Gurspan: Right, she wants her child back, for sure. She's also a sea of conflicting emotions, isn't she?
Gurspan: Exactly. Where are those?
Jasmine: Line 14 to 16 is one.
Gurspan: Alright, everyone mark that down.
Sarah: The second section should be from there to line 19, where she says “mercy.” She's pleading and crying up until there, but then she gets real calm.
Gurspan: That's great. Then you have this big line here, “I wish for his death.” I think this is the main line of the whole piece. This is a person...
Jasmine:...who's psycho. She's really out of control.
Gurspan: Right. You could play her as a psycho. What else do we get from her? Anger, desperation—if a person thinks someone is out there trying to kill her, what do we call that?
Khyree: That's paranoia.
Elijah: But I don't understand who the character is talking to.
Liz: I think she's talking to the audience.
The actor should read this piece carefully in order to uncover the many desperate emotions Marion experiences as she speaks. The monologue presents a strong challenge to the actor to fully play each painful turn of thought, each terrible discovery, each difficult decision that Marion makes. She has just left her husband for another man, and her frustration at being separated from her child now compels her to question this new relationship, and question herself most of all.
I need my child. I need my child, Minnie. I need that child in my arms and I don't see a way I could ever have him again. He has been irrevocably taken from me. There is nothing I could do that would bring him back to me. I have begged him to let me see him. I have gone on my knees, I have offered myself to him. I have offered my life to him. He won't listen. He won't forgive me. I'm at his mercy. I wish for his death. I stalk the house. I stand on the corner and I watch his house. I imagine the child inside playing in his room. When spring comes I may be able to see him in the garden. I know he's not there, but that's how I can feel him near me. Looking at the house. He's gone mad! He's insane, Minnie. Yes! He's insane! He wants to destroy me. But I'll destroy him first.
Jasmine: [Reads the first several lines of the monologue again.] What are the first things that we understand from the beginning? We realize that the character can't do anything to get her child back—that's the first discovery.
Gurspan: Now read on. What's the second discovery?
Jessica: That she is at his mercy—he has a power over her with the child.
Gurspan: And what's the last discovery?
Khyree: That he's insane.
Liz: She could go to court—she could get custody of the child if she wanted it. It's not like he took it away and she doesn't have a right to the child.
Gurspan: But what's important is that she discovers all this in the speech. This is the first time that the audience finds out how you feel. So you understand, Jasmine? The character understands all these things as she's saying them. It's a really important speech because it shows a deep realization on the part of the character.
Today, Mr. Gurspan offers his students a contract that details the commitments they need to make for their play to be a success. Putting on a play is hard work, he tells them, and there's a big difference between wanting to do it and committing to it.
So, let's read together the contract I just handed you. I am going to ask each one of you to sign it. If you can't make these commitments, then I need to know now. I can tell from when you perform in class that you know the rush that comes from standing up before other people and putting your all into a part. Doing a play in front of a big crowd in an auditorium—that feeling is ten times as big. It's totally exciting. But it's hard work.
Okay, everybody follow along.
[Gurspan reads contract to the class. Click here
Let me repeat: putting on a play is hard work, it takes commitment, it means being responsible to everyone. If you agree to this, no matter what—cold, family, work—then sign on the back. But first let's talk about it, about what's in this contract.
Student: You mean I have to come to school even if I've got a high fever? That's crazy.
Gurspan: Okay, okay—no coming to school with high fevers. But the point is the depth of the commitment. This is beyond just being in the class. Let me add that in terms of grades, there is no problem. If we put up a show like the one we're planning, everyone gets an A. Any teacher would say that—it's a no-brainer. It's not about the grade, but the quality of the performance.
So let's hear about any problems you have with what the contract says. Anyone? Sara? Liz?
Student: So if somebody really doesn't want to do it, then they need to speak and say so, so that the rest of us can still do the play like we want to.
Gurspan: That's the point.
Student: [to the whole class] Is there anybody that doesn't want to do it...anybody?
Student: I want to do it...
Gurspan: It's not a question if you want to do it. I understand that wanting to do it is one step. The next step is committing to do it—no matter what. Saying I will—that's a lot more than wanting to do it. I know that you all want to act.
Student: But first we need to agree on a schedule for practices—it's not reasonable to commit to it when we don't know what day it's going to be. I've got to work—and not only that, but I do a couple of things after school. I can't just ditch all that stuff unless I know exactly when we're doing the play and I can plan ahead.
Student: Yeah—people do have to work and all. You've got to be reasonable. This is not the only thing in our lives.
Gurspan: Okay, that's fair. I'll commit to make a schedule far enough in advance that you can plan accordingly.
Student: As long as you make a schedule and you tell us the dates ahead of time, we'll be able to plan and get out of work and stuff like that.
Liz: I don't see what's the big deal. Like everybody else, I've got a lot of other things that I do, but I really want to do this play. I have a job, but that isn't anything when it comes down to this, you know what I'm saying? [Other students shout agreements.] Can I finish?!? Once you give us specific days that we need to be here, we're ready to make the sacrifice, because we all know that this is something that's worth it. Even if it's going on after school, I'll make that sacrifice. I'm in student government and book club, but this is something that you gotta do. Everything else that I'm doing is not that serious. This isn't just a grade—this is something to remember, something I'm going to keep with me. There are really no excuses.
Elijah: I've already signed it. I'm ready to go—I don't have a problem sacrificing anything else for this.
Gurspan: Ha! We'll see how easy it is.
Central High School | 70 Fricker St., Providence, RI 02903 | 401.456.9111
Copyright © 2005 |
Okay, everybody open your packet of monologues to page 43. Before Jasmine and the others come up on stage, we're going to read to ourselves the monologues they've picked. Don't think of them as productions, but as works in progress. You all have your worksheets. Write down the main idea of the monologue after you've read it, what you think it's about. How would you divide it into sections if you're acting it—when would you pause? What's the most important line? What do learn about the character, her personality, her life? How should the actor speak, gesture, move?
Gurspan: Okay, let's get started. I have here a contract I've written up that spells out all the details of putting on our play. I want you to know exactly what you're getting involved in and what you're committing to. Now, if I didn't feel like everyone was going to do a really good job on this project, individually and collectively, working with each other, helping each other out, then we wouldn't do it. I believe we can do a really good job. But it has to come from you. You really have to commit to do it. I'm not going to force in on any of you. I'll guide you, I'll make it happen, but only if you commit to it individually.
[Students shout agreements.]