Fifty men and fifty women can each choose their own fantasy character. A delightful collection of monologues for use in classrooms, contests or variety shows.

By author of the best-sellingContemporary Monologues for Young Actors! Award-winning NYC playwright Douglas M. Parker has created a new volume of refreshing monologues that explores the fantastic side of a young person's imagination. From magical creatures, to time-travel, to life on Mars, Fantasy Monologues for Young Actors offers 52 comedic and heartfelt monologues that will tap into every inch of an actor's creativity. These monologues were created specifically for actors and acting students ages 7-14 and for the teachers, directors and acting coaches who work with them. These monologues feature: A broad range of unique circumstances and emotions: comedic, inspirational, heartfelt, pompous, lonely, curious, etc. Gender-neutral, so every monologue could be performed by a boy or a girl Emotional arcs and strong outcomes to challenge your actors and keep audiences engaged Modern day topics with contemporary language that really relate to kids today Perfect for auditions, as short performance pieces and for use in the classroom Here are two sample monologues from the book: PAIL OF WATER (Your character is either Jack or Jill from the well-known nursery rhyme.) You make one mistake and people never forget it. Seriously. I mean, yeah, Jack [or Jill] and me went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. And, yes, one of us fell down and broke his crown and yeah, yeah, the other one came tumbling after. And no - we did not bring back any water. We did not succeed in our mission. And, if I was to be totally honest, we also lost the bucket. But come on. It wasn't like we went up the hill to save the planet from an alien invasion. There wasn't a baby up there about to be eaten by a bear. It was water. We fell down. We didn't come back with a pail of water. Someone else got up out of their chair, got a bucket, climbed up the hill and fetched a pail of water. Big deal. Life will go on. And just to set the record straight, I am perfectly capable of fetching water. I personally have fetched hundreds of pails of water, both before that incident and after. So has Jack [or Jill]. It was one time. Sheesh. Maybe it's time we all moved on. ONE DAY The less there is of something, the more precious it is. Olive trees can live for two thousand years. Giant tortoises for a hundred and fifty. And us mayflies? Twenty-four hours. How amazing is that? A whole life in a single day. You're born at five in the morning, just as the sun starts to color the sky. You get one sunrise, but it's a moment that lasts almost forever, casting a golden light across your entire childhood. You leave home at six a.m., then spend hours just exploring the world. And you can fly! Think of it - unlimited freedom in a world where every moment is a day and every perfect minute lasts a month. Years of morning light and summer breezes in a single hour. By eight or nine, you've made friendships that will last a lifetime. A passing cloud changes the face of the world. And always, there's more to see, more to do, more to live as you fly high above the water. By three you've fallen in love, and by four you have a family. Soon the sun, which has been with you always, begins to set. That soft, half- forgotten golden light of your childhood returns. Your own children fly away and newer, smaller suns appear as the night surrounds you. And always, so much left to see. So much left to do. For the first time in your life, the air goes still. The moon rises and explodes with a cool, white light. And still, so many hours - so much life - is left. Who knows what strange, new things could happen next? With so much time. So much life. So many possibilities. All in a single day.

DISCOVER SOMETHING NEW WITH THIS LIMITED-TIME DISCOUNT ON BOOK ONE OF THE SERIES. The first in the Oathsworn series, charting the adventures of a band of Vikings on the chase for the secret hoard of Attila the Hun.

"Pygmalion goes awry in contemporary comedy of manners which explores sexual harassment, misplaced amour and the possibility of a four sided love triangle."--Doollee.com.

From the New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente comes a ferocious riff on the women in superhero comics. The Refrigerator Monologues is a collection of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who’s ever been “refrigerated”: comic book women who are killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or had their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress. In an entirely new and original superhero universe, Valente subversively explores these ideas and themes in the superhero genre, treating them with the same love, gravity, and humor as her fairy tales. After all, superheroes are our new fairy tales and these six women have their own stories to share.

Whether a side-street skirmish or an all-out war, fight scenes bring action to the pages of every kind of fiction. But a poorly done or unbelievable fight scene can ruin a great book in an instant. In Fight Write you'll learn practical tips, terminology, and the science behind crafting realistic fight scenes for your fiction. Broken up into "Rounds," trained fighter and writer Carla Hoch guides you through the many factors you'll need to consider when developing battles and brawls. • In Round 1, you will consider how the Who, When, Where, and Why questions affect what type of fight scene you want to craft. • Round 2 delves into the human factors of biology (think fight or flight and adrenaline) and psychology (aggression and response to injuring or killing another person). • Round 3 explores different fighting styles that are appropriate for different situations: How would a character fight from a prone position versus being attacked in the street? What is the vocabulary used to describe these styles? • Round 4 considers weaponry and will guide you to select the best weapon for your characters, including nontraditional weapons of opportunity, while also thinking about the nitty-gritty details of using them. • In Round 5, you'll learn how to accurately describe realistic injuries sustained from the fights and certain weapons, and what kind of injuries will kill a character or render them unable to fight further. By taking into account where your character is in the world, when in history the fight is happening, what the character's motivation for fighting is, and much more, you'll be able write fight scenes unique to your plot and characters, all while satisfying your reader's discerning eye.

Drawing on conversations with hundreds of women about their genitalia, the author presents a collection of performance pieces from her one-woman show of the same name.

BOOK ONE IN THE BROKEN EMPIRE TRILOGY “Prince of Thorns deserves attention as the work of an iconoclast who seems determined to turn that familiar thing, Medievalesque Fantasy Trilogy, entirely on its head.”—Locus When he was nine, he watched as his mother and brother were killed before him. By the time he was thirteen, he was the leader of a band of bloodthirsty thugs. By fifteen, he intends to be king... It’s time for Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath to return to the castle he turned his back on, to take what’s rightfully his. Since the day he hung pinned on the thorns of a briar patch and watched Count Renar’s men slaughter his mother and young brother, Jorg has been driven to vent his rage. Life and death are no more than a game to him—and he has nothing left to lose. But treachery awaits him in his father’s castle. Treachery and dark magic. No matter how fierce his will, can one young man conquer enemies with power beyond his imagining?

Theater veteran and acting teacher Joanna Merlin has written the definitive guide to auditioning for stage and screen, bringing to it a valuable dual perspective. She has spent her career on both sides of the auditioning process, both as an award-winning casting director who has worked with Harold Prince, Bernard Bertolucci, and James Ivory, and as an accomplished actor herself. In this highly informative and accessible book, Merlin provides everything the actor needs to achieve self-confidence and artistic honesty–from the most basic practical tips to an in-depth framework for preparing a part. Filled with advice from the most esteemed people in the business, such as James Lapine, Nora Ephron, and Stephen Sondheim, and charged with tremendous wisdom and compassion, this indispensable resource will arm the reader to face an actor's greatest challenge: getting the part.