Totally Fine
- Performer
- Audition / event
- Title
- Totally Fine
- Attribution
- by FreeSchoolPlays.com
- Source
- Original work
- Length
- ~2 min (344 words, whole piece)
- Cut
- Full monologue (5 beats).
"Totally Fine", by FreeSchoolPlays.com, via FreeSchoolPlays.com. Free to perform; attribution required.
People keep asking if I'm sad. And it's like -- sad? About this? (gesturing at the hallway) This building smells like a gym sock had a baby with a whiteboard marker. I have been counting down to leaving since roughly the ninth grade. So no. I'm not sad. I'm efficient. Watch how efficient I am. (pulling things from a locker) Old worksheet, trash. Hoodie I thought I lost, mine now. A single glove. Whose glove. Doesn't matter. Trash.
Because the thing about high school is it's temporary. That's the deal. You come, you do your little worksheets, you leave. It's like a bus. You don't cry about a bus. You just get off at your stop and you go, "thanks, bus," and you never think about the bus again. I'm getting off the bus. Emotionally, I have already de-bused.
(holding something up) Oh -- this is the schedule from freshman year. I kept this for some reason. Ha. Look how many highlighter colors I used. I really thought a schedule needed to be beautiful. What a little weirdo. (a small pause, looking at it a second too long) ...I had lunch with Danny that year. Fourth period. We'd get the same terrible pretzel every single day and rank it. We had a whole system. (beat) He's going to Oregon. That's a real place that's very far away.
(recovering, faster) Anyway. Trash. It's all just -- it's just stuff. It's a hallway. It's lockers. It's not like the lockers are gonna miss me. (beat, quieter) I keep saying "it's just" about everything. Have you noticed that? It's just a hallway. It's just a schedule. It's just Danny and the pretzel and my terrible highlighting and every single normal Tuesday I completely wasted not knowing they were about to run out.
(the smile finally goes; simple and true) I'm not sad it's ending. (beat) I'm sad it was so good and I only just noticed. (a breath, gathering) ...Okay. I'm keeping the schedule. Everything else, trash. (managing a smile) Don't tell anyone I got weird about a locker.
"Totally Fine", by FreeSchoolPlays.com, via FreeSchoolPlays.com. Free to perform; attribution required.
Audition prep notes
Full piece: 5 beats, ~344 words -- short (2–4 minutes), about 2 min at a natural pace.
Start with the objective
Before you run it, name your character's objective in one sentence: what do they want in this moment, and what is in the way of getting it easily? Pace, volume, and movement all follow from that one sentence, not the other way around.
Map the beats
The current text breaks into 5 spoken beats. Use those breaks as a starting map, but test each one: a beat ends where the character's tactic changes, not merely where the paragraph does -- two paragraph-breaks may play as a single acting beat, or one may split into two.
Pacing for this length -- short
This is the classic audition length: build one clear arc from an opening state to a changed state by the end, with a single clean tactic shift in the middle to show range without over-plotting.
Delivery approach -- Comedy
Comic timing lives in the pause before the turn, not the punchline itself. Find the setup-and-turn shape in each beat and hold a beat longer than feels natural before you land it.
Framing for High school (9–12)
Layer subtext on top of a plain objective: name what the character wants, then find at least one tactic change mid-piece (asking becomes demanding, joking becomes pleading). Ground it in one specific, sensory detail rather than a general mood.
Forensics eligibility -- Humorous Interpretation
This piece reads as Humorous Interpretation. That classification is illustrative only -- not official, not an NSDA, NCFL, or UIL certification. Always verify current eligibility with your event's own published rules before entering it in competition.
Generic coaching guidance for actors preparing this piece -- not a substitute for your director's or coach's notes.
Free to read, print, and perform. No royalty, no performance fee. The credit line above is required and is placed automatically on this packet; keep it in your program and audition materials.