Classical Duologues for US Actors

This is a hand-picked collection of classical duologues for actors in the US. American auditions — from BFA and MFA programmes to regional theatre and on-camera reads — usually ask for one to two contrasting pieces kept tight, often under 90 seconds each. Casting through Actors Access and Backstage rewards a clean, specific self-tape over a big "audition voice".

Classical text (Shakespeare and his contemporaries through to the Restoration) is a standard requirement at most serious drama-school auditions. Choose a speech you understand line by line, let the verse do its work, and ground the language in a real, present need. A duologue lives on genuine listening and a real relationship between two people, so choose a scene where both characters want something specific from each other.

For Juilliard, Yale, NYU Tisch, Carnegie Mellon or the college Unified auditions, choose active pieces with a clear objective and someone specific to talk to, and avoid the few overdone speeches every reader has heard a hundred times.