100 Monologues is a project where I’m writing monologue scripts, performing, and filming the pieces. Since I’m beginning to dabble in acting, the project is meant as a means for me to acquire more acting experience where I can work on refining my craft. You can find out more about the project here.

Below is the script from the “Grief” monologue. If you’re a student who would like to perform this monologue for class, just make sure you credit me, Maggie Coyle, as the author. For any other use of the script, please contact me.

100 Monologues: #35 Grief

I…I don’t know how to react to this. I don’t know what I can do to help. How do you help someone who just found out they have a terminal illness? There’s nothing you can do. No words can really make anything better. It’s set in stone. There’s a known end date. And I feel so powerless to comfort him at all. I feel like I’m turning into a distant stranger—someone watching his tragedy from far away, thinking about it occasionally. But the reality is that I think about it every day. I think about it too much. And every time I think about his impending doom, I just want to fall to the ground and sob uncontrollably. There’s something comforting in being able to lose control. But I can’t…I’m too terrified to show anyone how torn up I feel inside.