Beginner Scripts for Actors
Are you starting out on your acting journey? Are you looking for material to help you kick this whole thing off? Then you’ve come to the right place: a page full of beginner scripts tailor-written by the StageMilk team for this very purpose. Get amongst it!
This page contains a selection of free, original beginner scripts for actors: simple, short monologues perfect for actors finding their feet. These beginner scripts are written to be suitable for scene study, classes, and self-tape practice; each script comes with a breakdown of plot, genre and some notes to prompt interpretation.
Beneath the included scripts, we have also added a few helpful tools for tackling material at a foundational level—as well as a list of our other free script resources. Each of the topics we touch upon has their own dedicated article here on StageMilk, but you can start and stop on this page for now. There’s always time to dive deeper down the way.
From the Writer:
Hello! My name is Alexander Lee-Rekers; I’m a professional playwright and screenwriter. I hereby give my permission for you to use the scenes on this page for personal practice, as well as showreels and auditions. All I ask is that you credit my work and where you found it—especially if you post it on social media. (If you’re feeling brave, you can tag me and StageMilk via @alexnobodyfamous and @stagemilkacting so we can see what you do with it.) Other than that: have fun, make bold choices and give ’em a go!
Beginner Scripts for Actors
These scripts utilise our in-house formatting, more akin to playscripts than screenplays. Each script contains a few ‘performance notes’ that act as provocations for how you might tackle and interpret the material. But these are guidelines, not rules. Skip ’em if you wish.
One last thing: in an educational context, there is nothing wrong with bending the age or gender of characters as written. Don’t scroll past a scene because the identity of the character doesn’t directly align with your own. Have a read and see what you click with; you can always switch up names and pronouns to your heart’s content.
King Gumdrop
Genre: Comedy
Length: 1 min
Synopsis: Natalie talks her daughter-in-law through the particulars of minding her prized pet dog.
Performance Notes:
- What is the relationship between Natalie and her daughter-in-law? Friendly? Fraught? There’s plenty of room in this scene to play with the subtext of this exchange. This could just as easily be a cruel exercise in status as it could be a heartfelt and grateful handover of a beloved pet.
- On that subject: what is King Gumdrop like? Is he a big dog? Is he small and yappy? Aggressive? Does he like Natalie’s daughter-in-law? Does she like him, and treat him to goodies the minute Natalie leaves?
- Think about the objective of this scene, and be as specific as you can. The dialogue might be about a pet, but an objective has to include the scene partner. So what does Natalie want from her daughter-in-law in this scene? To enlist her help? Ask for a favour? To make her feel small or useless? It’s completely up to you.
Condolences
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Length: 1 min
Synopsis: Ben has shown up at the door of his grieving neighbour Martha with a tray of food and the best comforting words he can muster.
Performance Notes:
Performance Notes:
- What is the relationship between Ben and Martha? Try mapping out their shared history before diving into this scene so you have some understanding of this interaction’s context.
- Note that this monologue, while shot, has three distinct sections to it. We refer to these as ‘beats’: turning points in the action where a character realises something new or the circumstances change. What prompts these shifts? How can you signpost that for the audience?
- This scene refers to a prop: a covered tray of frozen food. Explore using this in the scene, but be careful of not making the tray too prominent in the action. Refer to it when needed, otherwise ensure that it doesn’t draw focus.
Lost Time
Genre: Drama
Length: 1 min
Synopsis: After a nerve-wracking commute, Gus quits his job in his boss’s office.
Performance Notes:
- Spend time on your given circumstances when preparing this scene: there’s minimal information about character, location, even where Gus works. These are all things you have the authority to develop your own ideas about.
- Think about imagery when you prepare this scene. How can you make the audience experience those images, telegrammed in short sentences and phrases? What is the cumulative effect of this on the pacing of the scene?
- How is Gus’ boss taking this? Are they angry, sympathetic, concerned? Don’t forget to check in with the scene partner—especially if it’s just you performing and you have to imagine them.
An Eye for Rare Birds
Genre: Drama/Romance
Synopsis: Bird watcher Ash speaks to a fellow enthusiast about the origin of her obsession.
Performance Notes:
- This piece doesn’t seem like a pick-up … maybe that’s what makes Ash so cool. You clearly like this person you’re speaking to, so try to communicate that with how you speak to them, rather than coming out and saying it.
- Spend some time thinking about that (Pause.) That’s a moment just for you to think back and enjoy that memory.
- As you speak to them, can you read on their face how it’s going? Are they hearing you, listening to you? Most importantly, do they get what your intention is at this moment?
Blue Cardigan
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: Charlotte has shown up at the door of a young woman who, until recently, had been conducting an affair with her husband.
Performance Notes:
- What was it like for Charlotte to meet her husband’s lover for the first time? What happened, if anything, before this piece began?
- Are these the words Charlotte thought she’d say? The blue cardigan is clearly her objective, but was this approach what she’d planned, how she thought the interaction might play out?
- This speech spans over two paragraphs. What is the significance of the pause, of the break on the page between each section? What happens in that space in-between?
Tips for Beginner Scripts
With any luck, you’ve picked a script that suits you and you’re ready to dive in
Objective
Your character’s objective is what they want from their scene partner before the scene ends. It’s the reason they’ve shown up, the reason they’re still there, sometimes the reason they’re talking to somebody they truly despise. In any acting you do—big or small, stage or screen, monologue or scene—the objective is everything. It’s what drives your character to do absolutely everything that happens in the script. So work it out first, make it clear and use it to guide all of your choices.
Actions and Tactics
If objectives are what you want, actions are the tactics your character employs to achieve that goal: the all-important how. Actions can be overwhelming as a concept for new actors, but with some practice you’ll see why they are such effective tools. To start with, pick a verb you can apply to your dialogue that will inform its delivery: “I demand you”, for example. Then refine the action to best suit the character and the situation. Tougher characters will pick tougher actions, kinder characters kinder actions, and so on.
Character
Take some time to think about your character and how their personality and drive will affect the scene. You don’t have to write an elaborate backstory, just look at the clues within the piece for some indicators as to how they might speak and act. Getting a good grasp of a character will also help you pick appropriate tactics for them in a scene, in line with their personality.
Given Circumstances
Finally, ground the world of the story with some work on the given circumstances. These are the foundational questions actors ask themselves: Who am I? Where am I? When is it? What do I want? Why do I want it? And how do I get what I want? Use the answers to these questions to inform and modify your performance. Some are fairly straightforward—note that “what” and “how” are your objective and actions which you’ve considered already. But a lot can change when you place one of these monologues in a car in heavy traffic, ten minutes from an important job interview. Suddenly the stakes are sky-high!
Additional Script Resources
This is one of many pages on StageMilk offering free, original scripts. Take a look at our other offerings below:
- Practice Monologues for Actors
- Short Monologues for Actors
- Scenes for Three Actors
- A/B Scenes for Actors
- Scenes for Young Actors
- Scenes for Four Actors
We would particularly recommend A/B Scenes for Actors if you’re looking for similarly easy and open-ended scenes to work on with another actor!
All of our free, original scenes are now available at the StageMilk Original Script Database.
Conclusion
So there you have it: everything you need to get yourself acting and this wild ride started! Don’t forget to keep checking in on this page for new beginner scripts. We try to update all of our free script pages regularly, so that our international community of actors is never lacking for new and exciting material.
Even if you realise one day you’re not as ‘beginner’ as you once were, every scene is a chance to flex your skills and tell a story. And we cannot wait to see what you do with all of this…
Good luck!
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