St. Sebastian Players Monologue Match Up

Last year I had the great opportunity to be part of the St. Sebastian Player's Monologue Match Up, contributing a complete head shot package to be part of the prize pool. This year I have that honor again.

The St. Sebastian Players have been part of the Chicago theater scene for a long time. When I was starting out, I'd see audition notices for their productions -- great scripts that I would have loved to have done, but the group was characterized as a community theater to me. I was a serious acTOR and focused on doing work that would be taken SERIOUSLY, that would build my CAREER, that would make me a STAR! The St. Sebastian Players, my reasoning went, were probably a cute little group that put together little plays in the basement of a church, but they weren't going to be doing any work that was worthy of me.

As an actor I could be an arrogant, superior, self-involved little prick.

So, I contributed my headshot package and agreed to attend last year's competition not really knowing what to expect. The St. Sebastian Players do, indeed, produce in a church basement. But in my illustrious, glamorous acting career I did productions where we would have killed for the luxury of a church basement. And they only perform for a few performances, but truth be told there are many productions of "serious" theater that should not run any longer.

Even before the contest began, what became immediately clear was that the St. Sebastian Players produce theater for no other reason than because they love it. Unlike my retired theatrical ambitions, they aren't trying to prove anything, they aren't striving to be something they are not. They are a group of dedicated artists who love theater and produce scripts that they know their audiences will enjoy. At the end of the day the purpose of theater isn't any grander than that.

I was shocked at how well attended the event was. There were thirty competitors and probably a hundred spectators. The judges represented some of the best and brightest theatrical groups in the city. The talent that presented their monologues represented a wide range of experience, but it was clear that each and everyone of them brought their A game. Years ago there used to be a non-Equity general audition and I had the responsibility of attending for one of the theaters I worked with. The lack of preparation that was tossed up on that stage, for professional consideration, was shocking. And like me, many of those actors would never deign to do a "community theater" production in a church basement. Steven Speilberg would never happen to stop by and discover them there! (And be truthful, you know actors with that attitude.)

Such attitudes are not in evidence at the Monologue Match Up. Any director would tell you that if they could have a general audition with the quality of talent and preparation that is seen at the St. Sebastian Players, they'd feel like they had died and gone to heaven.

On October 27, the competition begins for the sixteenth time and I promise that for any actor it is once of the most artistically inspiring events of the entire theatrical season. The St. Sebastian Players Monologue Match Up is an event that really should not be missed by anyone who considers him or herself a true artist or a real professional. It gives an actor of any experience level the rare opportunity to see how other actors handle monologues in a situation not at all unlike a general audition, and it gives them a taste of what it is like to be an auditor. It's not like an audition class. Here the stakes are real. There's no nuturing teacher to hold your hand. Like a real audition, you're competing, but here you get to watch the competition. Such experience is invaluable to every actor.

Plus, it's just plain fun.

There are a limited number of competition slots, so you should contact The St. Sebastian Players immediately to secure your place in the competition. And if all goes well, you and I may be working together very soon to create the perfect marketing image to springboard your career to the next level.