THE MONOLOGUE ADVENTURE: PROGRAM 2019
This is it! The published stories! Click on the title to read each monologue or story.
Check out the writers selected for publishing by VERITY LA.
Where Once I Saw Her Dance
Anne Casey, Sydney NSW
“beyond the sleepy dapplings of the mangroves”. A poem personifies the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef and the threat to its future.
Escape
Sheryl Dixit, Kellyville Ridge, near Blacktown, NSW
“No, no, no, go, go go!” A young woman is escaping out of the window of her own home. Within the complex emotional cocktail of fear, guilt, anger, terror and confusion is a dash of courage.
Butterfly Kicks
Jamila Main, Hallett Cove, south Adelaide, South Australia
“I’m sixteen, drinking vodka and lemonade, and on my way to getting off my face for the first time.” Milla is a socially awkward teenage girl at her first real New Years Eve party. When she catches the eye of the only girl not dancing she fights to overcome the butterflies in her stomach to act on her crush.
Long Division
Jessica Andreatta, Lyra via Ballandean, Southern Queensland
“I text Happy Birthday, two weeks late on a whim.” Annie, pregnant and living on a farm, gets a phone call from her old schoolfriend Evie who is running a business in The Hague. It sets off memories of their childhood and a mystery exam paper.
My Smarty Pants Phone
June Hopkins, Kallangur, Moreton Bay, Queensland
“I have acquired a new phone – a SMART phone!” June is using Auto Correct on her new phone, with some hilarious results.
Part II
The Wresting
Anne Walsh, Newcastle NSW
“What is day for except further immersion into the utter unkeepable-ness?” Bronte, recently separated from her husband, is dropping her three children off to school while listening to Beethoven in her car.
Safety in the danger
Jay-Lee Richardson, Melbourne, Victoria
“You’re like me. So if you’re toxic, so am I.” In a declaration of love to her partner, a woman explains that the danger of both their personalities is what binds them together.
Reconciliation Rescue
Angelina Hurley, Brisbane, Queensland
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Queensland.” A First Nations woman is on her way to a job interview in Brisbane, her homeland. Even though she has changed, she realises there are some things about her homeland and indeed Australia, that haven’t.
This Face Misplaced
Edilia Ford, Western Sydney NSW
“I have always led a duplicitous life.” A woman finds her face is the cause of misplaced racial comments, often humorous but always revealing.
Part III
Skipping Stones
Mikaela Castledine, Kalamunda, eastern Perth, Western Australia
“We go there, like usual, to that place near the lighthouse where the crusted water wheel sits above the edge of the shore.” A young child relives a moment when her father fell over on the rocks near the ocean.
When the Bell Tolls
Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Canberra, ACT
“I heard a bell ring today and its music brought tears to my eyes.” A First Nations woman travels with her mother to visit the site of a Stolen Generations crime, reliving the moment when children were taken from their parents by government officers as they left their local church.
Everyone is Full of Shit
Hannah Grace Fulton, Sydney NSW
“I have this theory: everyone is full of shit.” A young woman returning from a trip to Santorini, relives with humour her break-up and the anonymity of Instagram.
The thing about fish being held captive is not what I’m trying to say
Alison Whitelock, Stanwell Park, NSW
“Start the letter.” A woman’s husband invites his best friend’s daughter, a complete stranger to her, to stay with them indefinitely. The daughter treats the woman with utter disdain. 64 days into the daughter’s stay, the woman feels shut down and decides to write a letter.
Part IV
Burning Down the House
Lliane Clarke, Sydney NSW
“I thought the curtains would go up first but they’re just smouldering.” A woman set fire to her house watches from the trees outside.
A Voice from Down Under
Joanne Toscano, Sydney NSW
“Rookwood Cemetery. Sacred ground.” A fictional deceased Biripi woman from the north coast of NSW is buried in Rockwood Cemetery. While she is waiting to cross over, her spirit reflects on her life, her mistakes and the inspiration of her Aunty Pearl.
Mrs Ziotto’s Three Hundred Dollars
Elisa Cristallo, Sydney NSW
“It took two years for us to get our papers to come here.” Nonna remembers the kindness of Mrs Ziotto as she forged a new life as an immigrant Italian in Australia.
The Berenice Diaries
Roz Hall Farlam, Young, NSW
“It was a bit of a shock – more than a bit really.” A woman in a small country town is devastated when her husband runs off with her mother, but begins an at times hilarious path of revenge and reinvention.
Part V
Am I Fine?
Jamieson Rendall, Sale, Victoria
“Eleven thirty. The train will be here soon.” On her way home on the train, a young woman is anxious about the man sitting beside her and doubting her interpretation of the situation.
Home
Gayle Kennedy, Sydney NSW
“Mum yearns for home.” A First Nations woman takes her mother back to her home country as she faces the end of her life.
The Magician’s Girl
Rijn Collins, Spotswood, Victoria
“It was his voice I recognised first.” A woman who spent her youth battling mental illness in a psychiatric ward has managed to survive her disability. By chance she meets a man from that time, which triggers her memory of a close friend who didn’t survive, and yet it underlines the positive choices she managed to make.
All individual authors assert their copyright. Publishing permission required.
Read about the authors HERE.
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