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 “Learning to Be Myself” 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: #50 Learning to Be Myself

When I was younger, I suffered from pretty bad anxiety. It was so bad, that a lot of my classmates used to think that I didn’t know how to talk at all. Often enough, someone would notice how quiet I was and comment about it with an “Oh, you’re pretty quiet,” or “you don’t talk much, do you?” It drove me crazy whenever someone said anything like that. It was bad enough that I had so much social anxiety that I was afraid that I’d say the wrong thing. But when someone called me out on being quiet, it made my anxiety even worse and I’d grow quieter – just all the more afraid that I’d say the wrong thing.

I lived in my head a lot for years. Until I finally decided that was no way to live. So I started to do the opposite of what I’d default to, to get used to being uncomfortable. So I could outgrow my anxiety.

I used to hate going to happy hours if I didn’t really know anyone there. So I started saying “yes” to going to every happy hour I was invited to. And gradually, I learned how to get used to being uncomfortable in social settings. And eventually, I learned how to be myself in front of strangers.

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 “Heartbroken” 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: #49 Heartbroken

I had been with Jacob for nearly a decade. We had celebrated holidays together. He had seen my full range of emotion—sadness, anger…joy. We had grown together, I had thought. But then one day, he told me he no longer loved me. I was devastated.

For weeks I just felt that pain. I drank heavily in hopes to distract myself. I wept openly in front of my friends. I’d play sad, sappy love songs late at night and would just lose it. I was in mourning. Losing a love that I had in my life for so long, felt a lot like losing someone who had died. And I suppose someone, or more like something did die—his love for me.

It took me months to realize that he did me a favor by breaking my heart. I had settled for him – he really wasn’t that great for me. He never made me feel pretty—he was constantly checking out other women. He was rarely there for me—he worked long hours, coming home around 2 or 3 am in the morning. And most importantly, I kept secrets from him. It was hard for me to tell him things, which I feel like was a sign that we were doomed.

I guess when you’re in a relationship, you lie to yourself sometimes to make it work. Jacob leaving me was a gift in many ways. Mainly because I realized I had lost myself in the relationship. And although it will take years to mend from the heartbreak, I’m glad I finally found myself again.

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 “Secrets” 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: #48 Secrets

The thing with secrets is if you never share them with anyone, you never know if anything will become of them. So recently I made up my mind to start sharing some of my inner thoughts to see what happens. And that’s why you’re here. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…You know, I had this whole speech prepared. I kept rehearsing it in my head, over and over again, until it was this poetic thing. And now that you’re in front of me, of course I’m drawing a blank. So I’m just going to tell you…tell you exactly what’s on my mind…tell you like it is…I like you. And you don’t need to respond to that, you can just take that, think about it, if you have something great to say about it, wonderful, get back to me about that. If not…let’s just pretend this is a weird dream you had. Or better yet, we can pretend this never happened. So there it is…take it or leave it. We can see what happens, or what doesn’t happen.

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 “Moving” 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: #47 Moving

It’s a difficult decision. My whole life is here. But the thought of just taking this new job in a new city, there’s just something so romantic and appealing about it. My life is here… There’s a part of me that just wants to be able to nonchalantly say that there’s nothing keeping me here…that I can just up and leave and everything will be fine. I haven’t had much of a solid relationship in years, so dating really isn’t keeping me here. And I have a handful of pretty good friends, but I feel like anywhere you go you can make a handful of pretty good friends. But when I think about it…it’s tough. This place has become home. I’ve memorized the public transit routes, I’ve grown to love certain restaurants, and I do have that core group of friends. And even though I seem to think that no matter where you go you can still make a handful of decent friends, the truth is…it’s difficult. If you leave something that’s so known and familiar and comfortable, and you’re introduced to a city where you don’t know any one, you’re just starting from scratch—it’s tough. The more I think about it, I’ve gotten so comfortable here—I’ve settled and I haven’t bothered looking for anything better. And maybe this is the perfect opportunity for me to shake things up a bit and see if I land on my feet.

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 “Friendship Over” 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: #46 Friendship Over

Really? You want to know why? You want to know why I haven’t picked up the phone when you’ve called me? And why I haven’t bothered calling you back in weeks? Okay fine, I’ll tell you why. It’s because I feel like this hasn’t really been a friendship in years. I mean come on, what did you think? Every time I see you, you just put me down. You know what my insecurities are and you like to fixate on them and poke and prod and make fun of them. I’m well aware of your insecurities but I would never make fun of them. Cause I always thought that’s what friends did. And clearly I’m not really your friend if you don’t feel a need to make me feel good about myself. And then there’s the thing where every time I see you, I just drive you around. So I’m your chauffeur and human punching bag. And quite frankly I can’t keep doing this. I just can’t. The other day I was thinking about it, and I realized there’s no reason for me to opt into this type of relationship. There’s no reason for me to willingly hang out with people who make me feel this way. So just let me do this. My first step to truly being happy is not hanging out with people like you.

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 “You’re Not You Anymore” 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: #45 You’re Not You Anymore

What happened to you? I barely recognize you anymore. You used to be this guy who was such a night owl, who stayed up late playing guitar and not caring about what anyone thought. But ever since you started dating Sarah, it’s like you’ve turned into this entirely different person. All you do is worry about what other people think. And you’ve stopped making music. It’s like the two things that really defined you, that made you who you were, have just completely disappeared, just vanished. And worst of all, I feel like I’ve lost a close friend. Because I barely recognize you anymore. I don’t know who you’ve become.

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 Good Listener” 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: #44 The Good Listener

I know that you don’t like James and you think he’s no good. But he’s kinda amazing. He treats me well. He’s a great listener. And I know you think he’s no good because whenever we go out to eat, I’m usually the one who covers the tab. But he takes me places. He drives me around. And he’s a good…listener… Okay, you’re completely right. I don’t know what I’m doing. When I try to think beyond him being a good listener, like what he contributes to the relationship, there isn’t much else there. I think I’m with him because I don’t want to be alone. And quite honestly that isn’t really good for either one of us. I think I need some “me time,” away from any relationship. Just figure out what I want and sort everything out…don’t you think?

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 “Snow Days” 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: #43 Snow Days

I used to love snow days as a kid. I loved it whenever I’d open up the blinds in my room and see several inches of snow covering the world around me. I’d curl up back in bed, pull the covers up over my head, and go back to sleep for several hours. Whenever I woke up again, I’d just lounge around the house in my pjs—just taking my sweet time with life. And whenever I got tired of lounging, I’d just bundle up and go outside in the cold. Having snowball fights and building forts with my friends. And whenever I got tired of the cold, I’d come back inside. Take off my snow-covered gloves and let them dry on the radiator. Then I’d just drink hot chocolate and watch time move by real slow.

As an adult, I still love snow days. It’s all too easy to get caught up in work. I’m usually moving too fast to ever slow down and enjoy the world around me. And snow days allow me to do just that. They give me an unexpected day off to just sit back.

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 “Gardens” 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: #42 Gardens

Whenever I think of gardens, I think of love. I got my first kiss when I was in a garden. I was sitting on a park bench. Whenever things were going really well for me, I had a tendency of going outside, just looking around me and soaking in all that beauty—all that beauty from nature. I would look up at the sky, see the way the sunlight reflected off the leaves on trees. And I remember feeling overjoyed by how beautiful everything was. And now when things aren’t going the way I want them to, I find that it always helps, it always does, if I just go outside, lay down on the grass, look up in the sky and just overjoyed that breathe it all in. Just admire all that beauty. When I do that, I’m able to momentarily forget what’s going on now, what’s going on in my immediate future. Because I start feeling so I get to appreciate such beauty every day.

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 “Just Breathe” 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: #41 Just Breathe

I’m driving myself crazy. I’m just letting everything get to me. It gets so overwhelming when you think about everything all at once. All the stress, all the pressure…the fact that I’m working at a job I don’t even like. The fact that I’m working somewhere I can’t stand just so I can pay rent…it’s tragic. And I don’t know if you heard, but the other day when I was walking down the street—I just started thinking about everything in my life that wasn’t going the way I wanted it to. Just all that unhappiness that’s been brewing…and I had trouble breathing. I started feeling dizzy and before I knew it, I just collapsed. And that’s the first time my body has ever told me, “hey, I don’t like this!” My body actually rejected the way I was feeling. So when your body is shutting down, I guess it was just trying to tell me—“hey, just breathe, just take a moment, just take each moment one step at a time.”