New 10-minute dark comedy, absurdist thriller (perfect for Halloween & outdoor theater): When Marshmallows Burn by Tara Meddaugh

September 24, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in dark comedy, dramatic, gender neutral casting, Halloween, holiday, mystical creatures, outdoor theater, Plays, Teen, ten-minute plays, thriller, thriller play, socially distant theater

If you are looking for some Halloween theater, perfectly designed for outdoor staging, check out my new play, When Marshmallows Burn:

Sammy and his mom are enjoying roasting marshmallows by the fire when something very strange starts to happen. Sammy’s arms look a little bit different. His teeth look a little bit different. He has a sudden urge to kill squirrels. What else will he have an urge to kill? Is there anything his mother can do to stop him? And will his mother be able to accept his new identity?

This is a dark comedy, absurdist thriller for 2 actors (1 female, 1 male or 2 female - one role is gender neutral). It’s funny; how often does someone ask, “Can I eat that squirrel over there? You don’t have to cook it. I promise I’ll like it raw.” It’s dark; um...see squirrel line above! There is growing dread at the gravity of the situation, a full moon, suspense, blood. Yet ultimately, it is a story about discovering a new identity, and searching for, or giving, acceptance and love.

It’s an exciting piece to produce any time of year, but especially during this spooky, eerie, Halloween season—this play will fit right into a creepy lineup of shows. What’s also really cool is that this play takes place outside. Around a campfire. So if you’re looking for a socially distanced, outdoor theater experience, this is about as perfectly set up as they come! If you’re interested in performing, make sure to fill out the royalty request form and send it to me.

CLICK for a free excerpt for When Marshmallows Burn by Tara Meddaugh.
CLICK BELOW for the complete digital download to the dark comedy, When Marshmallows Burn.

When Marshmallows Burn, a 10-minute dark comedy by Tara Meddaugh

$5.99

Hallmark Christmas Movies Announced: Are You Ready? Plus Theater Actors join MFTV Christmas Magic

September 24, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in Community, Drama in real life, family, Film, Movies, romance, social, Television, holiday, christmas but not theater

Okay. It’s still September. SEPTEMBER. But I have been seeing social media posts and hearing friends talk about putting up Christmas trees and lights extra early this year. Not like, November 25 early. I’m talking September 25 early! And really, in this very tense, anxiety-filled, unprecedented, relentless season of our lives, who can blame anyone for wanting to elongate a traditional feel-good season?

The Christmas season is cozy, cold but warm; it brings us hot chocolate, eggnog and peppermint, calming lights, early dark evenings, soothing music, colors everywhere amidst a landscape of mainly brown. It is comforting and familiar, and those are two things that we all crave—especially now when both feel a bit out of reach. And so…you know what also brings comfort and familiarity around that time of year, right? Hallmark Made-For-TV (MFTV) Christmas Movies! Keeping pace with the Christmas trees going up in NYC apartments, they’ve announced their Holiday Season already! You can check out Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas line-up here. And don’t worry, Netflix and Amazon will have their own Cheesy Christmas Movies coming too (“A Royal Toddler Goes to Virtual Preschool” perhaps?), but I have to give props to the originator, Hallmark.

Engulf The Evil Ashes: A dramatic monologue from the play, For My Silent Sisters by Tara Meddaugh

September 23, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in Community, Drama in real life, dramatic, full-length plays, Grief, monologue for female acto, Monologues, Plays, social, Teen, women, activism

My full-length dramatic play, For My Silent Sisters, gives voice to four young people who struggle to escape the dark world of human trafficking. *Before I discuss the monologue and play, please note that while I write with great respect and care, this monologue contains references to human trafficking and violence and may not be suitable for all readers.* Please also note that while the play is fiction, there are many experiences, very similar to the ones I give voice to, which have happened to real people. No country is immune to this egregious crime. At the time I’m writing this, criminals are trafficking an estimated 25 million people worldwide. For more information on human trafficking in the USA, how to help or report, visit the Human Trafficking Hotline or Polaris.

For My Silent Sisters journeys how criminals use manipulation, lies, or force to commit this crime. But it mainly journeys how four teenagers survive within this world, hold onto hope, strength, friendship, and how they all eventually leave that world—one way or another.

Engulf the Evil Ashes is a monologue from Marta. Marta, an excellent student from a large family in Romania, sees her way to a brighter future by accepting a position as a translator in England. However, after leaving home with the job recruiter, she discovers the role she thought she would receive does not exist. Instead, she is taken to a “training facility” in the woods in Albania, a place where girls are “trained” for forced prostitution (enslavement), then sent to other countries to make money for their enslavers. While their situation is terrifying, Marta immediately bonds with a confident Romani girl, Tasaria. They share stories, looks, secrets; they become closer than sisters. Tasaria develops a plan for them to escape the facility, but when the moment comes, Marta does not follow her. Tasaria’s escape attempt fails and she is killed. Marta is devastated.

In this monologue, Engulf the Evil Ashes, Marta has been punished, by friendship association, for Tasaria’s escape attempt. She is placed in the ground, simulating being buried alive. Though grieving, her rage and determination give her strength, and Marta comes up with a plan for freedom. She hides sticks from the outdoors and brings them with her when she is placed in an isolated room inside. During the course of a few hours, she is able to start a fire and begin burning down the old wooden building. While the building goes up in flames and smoke, Marta only smells freedom.

This monologue is about 2.5 minutes long, suitable for a mature teenager or young adult looking to sink into a dramatic monologue. It is a moment of empowerment, a moment when a frightened and beaten-down person finds strength in righteous anger, a moment when she finds a powerful voice, not only in words, but in actions. A moment when she changes the fate for herself—and hundreds of other girls.

"The Thing About Mermaids" by Tara Meddaugh: New children's comedic 1-minute monologue

September 21, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in Children's theatre, comedic, monologue for child actor, monologue for female acto, Monologues, monologues for male actor, gender neutral casting, children, mystical creatures, fairy tale, mermaids

Okay, so if you had to choose one mystical creature to be real, which would you choose? In my new monologue, The Thing About Mermaids, Riley encounters a real live mermaid…but is Riley excited by this discovery or does Riley think it’s a waste of a mystical creature?

Enjoy this free 45 second - 1 minute long comedic monologue for children, gender neutral casting. (For a dramatic 10-minute monologue play about mermaids, click here for Marsopa’s Tale).

Special thanks to Julian (and his mom), for inspiring this monologue!

Check out the excerpt below from, THE THING ABOUT MERMAIDS:

Ruby and Millie & The Old Chemical Plant by Tara Meddaugh: A One-Act Play for 2 female actors

September 17, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in dramatic, comedic, full-length plays, one-act plays, Plays, women, women in the arts

If you’re looking for a 15-minute comedy/drama for 2 female actors in their 60s, check out Ruby and Millie & The Old Chemical Plant. Sisters, Ruby and Millie, have been through a lot together. During WW2, 9-year-old Ruby took charge of her apartment building’s rooftop Victory Garden, hoping her patriotic war efforts on the home front would help bring her father back from a prisoner-of-war camp. Teenage Millie, disillusioned as her own boyfriend was fighting in the war abroad, cared for her younger sister as their mother took on a job, working long hours.

Now, over fifty years later, Ruby and Millie still live just down the hall from each other, in a senior living community. They still tend to a community garden. And they still take care of each other. But today, something is different. It’s not just that Ruby sat on her glasses watching Seinfeld last night or that Millie is suspicious someone has been stealing their tomatoes. Today, Ruby and Millie both have secrets and dreams to share which may, after all these years, lead them in very different directions, very far away from each other…

Spooky Play for Halloween: Free Space, a dark comedy/absurdist thriller by Tara Meddaugh

September 08, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in dark comedy, dramatic, full-length plays, Halloween, Plays, Reviews, thriller, thriller play, outdoor theater

Even during a pandemic, Summer flies by. And in New York State, something seems to have happened in the last week as temperatures left the high 80s, brown leaves are on the ground, homegrown apples are everywhere, and there is more talk about…Halloween. And that means theater for Halloween. Which means, you can pull out those dark comedies, thrillers, weird, spooky, creepy pieces that might be engaging any time of year, but hold a special kind of place as we gear up toward October 31.

I have several spooky plays and monologues that fit this bill, but a great full-length play for this darker time of year is my absurdist thriller, Free Space. This is a play where a mother pretends she’s her daughter for a terrifying reason. A young woman tries to escape her trapped existence where loneliness and aspirations ache in her bones. It’s a story of a dominating bingo chip (yes, I said “bingo chip”) who becomes increasingly demanding—and jealous. It’s always cold, usually tense, oftentimes eerie. Desperation and stakes are high. Cruelty abounds. And yet—

New Full Length Play: The Victory Garden Plays by Tara Meddaugh

August 20, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in children, comedic, Community, dramatic, family, Plays, Teen, ten-minute plays, full-length plays

How many of you decided that Pandemic 2020 would be the year you started your own edible garden? Whether it was in a luscious back yard, an upper story deck, or a window sill (friends and I started seeing how many vegetables we could grow in water jars from mere root cuts!), people all over seemed to be growing vegetation to eat like no other time in the 21st Century. In March, many of us found flour, bread and toilet paper impossible to purchase and there was a panic as we contemplated our food supply chain breaking. Growing our own produce seemed to offer stability, predictability, a tiny sense of control and perhaps even purpose during our unsettling time staying at home. (click below for continued post or click here for The Victory Garden Plays)

5 Great “Mean-Girl” monologues for teens: Comedy with a sharp edge!

August 19, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in comedic, comedy monolog collection, dark comedy, dramatic, monologue collections, monologue for female acto, Monologues, Teen, teen monologue collection

You don’t have to be auditioning for Mean Girls on Broadway to appreciate these monologues. For teens, or young adults, looking to show off their cutting, yet comedic side, these monologues are great for auditions, competitions, and performances. These monologues are funny and, well, kind of mean, operating under the layered humor I find interesting: show your self-absorption and cruelty under the guise of being nice. Check out these monologues about friendships, dance class, high-heeled shoes, Calculus and more!…

New dramatic monologue: "Birthday Balloons" by Tara Meddaugh

August 19, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in dramatic, monologue for female acto, Monologues, monologues for male actor, Grief

If you’re looking for a dramatic, heartfelt monologue, approximately 2 minutes long, for a female actor (or male), consider my new monologue, Birthday Balloons. Grief has been an uninvited guest in my life the past 5 years, one which has also snuck into my writing in fits and starts. I wrote this a year ago, found it yesterday and edited—and…can I confess something? I almost don’t even want to look at this again. It becomes a little hard to breathe when I read it. Still, I share it with you. Because there are many things we don’t wish to sit in which find voice and connection in theater.

In this dramatic monologue, Adelaide, suffering from a terminal illness, tries to reconcile her desire to give her son a happy birthday next month with the impending hopelessness she feels. She speaks to her friend. You may read the excerpt below and click at the end for a free digital copy of the whole monologue, Birthday Balloons.

New comedic/dramatic monologue: "The Best General Tso's" by Tara Meddaugh

August 18, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in comedic, Community, Drama in real life, dramatic, monologue for female acto, Monologues, monologues for male actor

My short monologue, The Best General Tso’s is about finding old General Tso’s chicken in the refrigerator during stay-at-home measures. While losses are certainly felt in big moments, I’ve often found that it’s in mundane moments that our pains become acute. Because these moments are day-to-day, they’re also frequent and hard to escape. The Best General Tso's is, on one hand, a comedic moment between Larissa and her almond-bag-buying partner, but it also draws on the complex feelings and experiences underlying a simple mundane moment. Sometimes a leftover is not just a leftover.

Enjoy this new monologue for a female (or male) actor, older teens through adult, which runs about 1.5 minutes long. Check out an excerpt below and click at the end for the full piece.

Climbing the Walls Exhibition: Including new monologue by Tara Meddaugh, The Best General Tso's, featuring Sara Jean Ford

August 16, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in comedic, Community, Drama in real life, dramatic, Festivals, monologue for female acto, Monologues, monologues for male actor, Monologue Performances

I’m happy to be a part of a joint exhibition between Studio Theater in Exile and Hudson Valley MOCA called Climbing the Walls. Artistic Director of Studio Theater, Mara Mills, envisioned the virtual exhibition as a vehicle to "explore the ways we are experiencing life right now and how we imagine the future” during this global pandemic.

My short (1.5 minute) monologue, “The Best General Tso’s features the fabulously talented actor, Sara Jean Ford (you may know her as Christine Daae in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway—and from lots more!). It’s about finding old General Tso’s chicken in the refrigerator during stay-at-home measures. While losses are certainly felt in big moments, I’ve often found that it’s in mundane moments that our pains become acute. Because these moments are day-to-day, they’re also frequent and hard to escape. The Best General Tso's is, on one hand, a comedic moment between partners, but it also draws on the complex feelings and experiences underlying a simple mundane moment. Sometimes a leftover is not just a leftover.

New dark comedy/absurdist 10-minute play: What's Inside The Eiffel Tower Coffee Mug by Tara Meddaugh

August 08, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in dark comedy, dramatic, Plays, Playwriting, romance, ten-minute plays

It’s Rebecca’s and Henry’s 10th wedding anniversary. Henry usually has his morning coffee at precisely half past seven, but today, Rebecca can’t wait this long for him to take his coffee mug from the cupboard. She has a secret to reveal to him. And it’s not your typical surprise anniversary gift. It’s a very… unnerving secret… And what Henry finds inside his souvenir coffee mug this morning just might change their marriage forever.

What’s Inside the Eiffel Tower Coffee Mug is a 2-person (1 male, 1 female) 10-minute play that embodies “dark comedy.” We can laugh at absurdities of the couple’s playful interaction of heightened language, but feel a punch to the gut as we discover the darkness that underlies the humor. This play has been described as embracing beauty and the grotesque in one, or finding beauty within the grotesque. It’s a unique journey to act and direct. It will give your audience the chance to laugh, cringe, empathize and ultimately find a sense of peace….

August 2020 Newsletter: New Play for Zoom, Monologue Collections and performance of "If I Were a Flower"

August 05, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in Newsletters

Check out my August Newsletter, featuring a new play for zoom, new monologues and monologue collections, and Madeleine Pace's terrific performance of my monologue, If I Were a Flower.

A Reading of New Plays by Tara Meddaugh: Free Virtual Theater August 7

August 05, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in comedic, Community, dark comedy, dramatic, Plays, Streaming Videos, technology, ten-minute plays, theatre companies, Zoom plays

What are you doing this Friday? Wanna join me for some virtual theater and conversation?

It is not often I can invite you to a performance of my work which is open for all to see, from whatever part of the globe you call home. So I'm happy to share that Tagragg Productions is presenting an evening of four of my 10-minute plays, complete with a short discussion following each piece (we can chat!). The show is FREE and will be performed live via Zoom, 7pm Eastern Time, August 7.

To attend the performances, click the Zoom link here.

New 10-minute rom-com/dramatic play for Zoom: A Human Body to Hug by Tara Meddaugh

August 04, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in comedic, dramatic, Plays, romance, Streaming Videos, technology, Teen, ten-minute plays, Zoom plays

If you’re looking for a 2-person play to perform, or practice, which is specifically designed for Zoom or other video platforms, check out my new play, A Human Body to Hug:

Dana and Cody are on a blind date. On Zoom. During a pandemic. Despite the awkwardness, they strive to find a connection during a very isolating time. And...well, someone has to clean up cat pee...

This 10-minute rom-com-dram play is written especially for video streaming, so there are no production questions you need to ask, like "should we read that stage direction?" or "how do we act out that fall?" Your audience can step into Cody's and Dana's private world for a moment--backgrounds, chats, cats on laps and all…

Dramatic Read-Aloud from Chat-n-Read: Goldilocks and The Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems

July 31, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in chat-n-read, children, Education, family, Reader's Theater

Check out my latest Chat-n-Read video where I read the fabulously funny, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, as “retold by” Mo Willems. And before our story together, we chat about dinosaurs! Our modern day world is full of toys, movies, tv shows, books, scientists all dedicated to dinosaurs! (Oh, and you get to see one super cool dino toy in my video: my son’s Jurassic Park RC dino that can do all sorts of things! Big thanks to my husband’s parents for that rockin’ toy!) But why are dinosaurs so fascinating to us? I think there are lots of reasons, but what stands out to you?

11 Great Dramatic Monologues for Children

July 27, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in child monolog collection, children, Children's theatre, dramatic, monologue collections, monologue for child actor, monologue for female acto, Monologues, monologues for male actor, Reader's Theater, dramatic monolog collecti

Finding a dramatic children’s monologue that is thoughtful, relatable, and age-appropriate can be a challenge. Here, I’ve collected ten (10) dramatic children’s monologues for you that are unique, memorable and fun for kids to act. These monologues range from 30 seconds to around 2 minutes. From Goldilocks having second thoughts to Lindsey confronting a bully who took a precious souvenir to Jenna facing an angry sister and a floor of broken glass—enjoy these 10 monologues show which can showcase your child’s dramatic talent and range!

Thirteen (13) Great Comedic Children's Monologues Involving Child to Parent Confrontations

July 22, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in children, Children's theatre, comedic, monologue by child, monologue collections, monologue for child actor, monologue for female acto, monologue written by chil, Monologues, monologues for male actor, star wars, Reader's Theater, child monolog collection, comedy monolog collection

Is there anything more comically dramatic than a child breaking the bad news to his dad that he doesn’t want to be a Jedi? Or a daughter justifying to her mom why she should have a pet skunk? Okay…maybe a few things are a bit more dramatic, but emotions are emotions, and these clever children’s monologues are full of fun, clean drama, comedic timing and relatability. Muster up your passion for Animal Crossing, iPads and candy, and showcase your acting talent with these twelve (12) great comedic children’s monologues where a child confronts a parent. And definitely, have fun doing it!

New children's comedic monologue about Animal Crossing: Your Crucian Carps are Blocking the Doorway, Mom

July 20, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in children, comedic, Drama in real life, family, monologue for child actor, monologue for female acto, Monologues, monologues for male actor, Video games

Okay, I’m not exactly a gamer, so my children were thrilled when I mentioned how Nintendo Switch’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons looked like a game I might be able to get into. A few adult friends shared how they were loving playing it and the idea of setting up my own paradise island amidst our pandemic quarantine near New York City sounded, well, pretty darn appealing. I wasn’t alone in that thought. Apparently, this game sold more than 13 million copies in the first 6 weeks after it was released in March. [Skip to my new comedic children’s monologue, Your Crucian Carps are Blocking the Doorway, Mom]