New dramatic monologue: "Birthday Balloons" by Tara Meddaugh
If you’re looking for a dramatic, heartfelt monologue, approximately 2 minutes long, for a female actor (or male), consider my new monologue, Birthday Balloons. Grief has been an uninvited guest in my life the past 5 years, one which has also snuck into my writing in fits and starts. I wrote this a year ago, found it yesterday and edited—and…can I confess something? I almost don’t even want to look at this again. It becomes a little hard to breathe when I read it. Still, I share it with you. Because there are many things we don’t wish to sit in which find voice and connection in theater.
In this dramatic monologue, Adelaide, suffering from a terminal illness, tries to reconcile her desire to give her son a happy birthday next month with the impending hopelessness she feels. She speaks to her friend. You may read the excerpt below and click at the end for a free digital copy of the whole monologue, Birthday Balloons.
____________________
ADELAIDE
I want to make him a birthday cake. And buy him a gift, you know, one of those complicated Lego sets. He’s into those right now. And, I always put balloons outside his bedroom door in the middle of the night, so when he wakes up, he’s greeted by these yellow—that’s his favorite color—these yellow “it’s your birthday” balloons and…it’s a great way to start your birthday, right?
(pause)
Most of the time, I want this, and I think, it’s a month away, only one month away. I can do this. I can do this for him. You know? But…
(pause)
Then sometimes, it doesn’t seem important anymore. Is that awful to say? Is that awful to say I don’t always feel my 6-year-old’s birthday is important?
(pause)
I want to be one of those parents where—END OF EXCERPT
CLICK HERE for the complete FREE digital monologue, Birthday Balloons.
This monologue is free to download above, but if you would like to support the playwright and her craft, you may do so below: