Her Chair

A monologue for high school (grades 9-12), drama. By FreeSchoolPlays.com.

THE CHARACTER

NADIA -- fifteen, standing at the head of the holiday table at the first big family dinner since her grandmother died. Everyone has been carefully not looking at the empty chair. Nadia decides to look at it.

THE MONOLOGUE

I know we usually wait for Grandma to say it. And I've been sitting here for ten minutes watching everybody pass the rolls really slowly so nobody has to be the one who starts. So. I'll start.

(she glances at the empty chair, then can't quite, then does)

Somebody should sit in her chair. I mean it. We left it empty like it's polite, but she'd hate that. She'd say a chair is for a person, and there are eleven of us, and Uncle Rey is standing against the wall like a coat rack.

(a small, real laugh -- someone moves)

No -- okay, not yet. Leave it one more minute. Because here's the thing I figured out this week. I kept waiting to stop missing her. Like grief was a cold and one morning I'd wake up better. But that's not how it goes, is it. You don't get over the person. You just get -- bigger around them.

(she touches the back of the chair)

She taught me to fold the corners on the tamales so they don't come apart in the pot. I did the corners this year. Mine were ugly. But they held. And when I was folding them I could hear her -- not like a ghost, I don't mean that -- I mean I knew exactly what she'd say. "Tighter, mija, they have to survive the water." And I said it out loud in the kitchen to nobody. And that's when I got it. She's not in the chair. She's in the corners of the tamales. She's in Dad's laugh, the loud embarrassing one. She's in whoever fixes it when the little kids fight.

(gently, to the table)

So I don't want us to eat around a hole all night. I want us to eat like she's spread out across all of it. Uncle Rey, sit down. Take her chair. Not to replace her. To keep it warm.

(she lifts her water glass)

To Grandma. Who is not missing from this table. She's just in more places now. (a beat) Tighter, mija. They have to survive the water. Okay. Let's eat.

PERFORMANCE NOTE

Keep this out of the tears -- Nadia is the one steadying the room, and the piece works best when she stays generous and even a little funny. The turn is "You don't get over the person. You just get bigger around them," and it should sound like something she genuinely just understood, not a rehearsed lesson. Let the grandmother's line, "Tighter, mija," carry the whole loss so the actor never has to force it.

An original work by FreeSchoolPlays.com, free to perform -- attribution the only requirement.

Audition prep notes

Full piece: 11 beats, ~352 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 11 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 -- Drama

Build from a real stake: name what happens if the character does NOT get what they want in this moment, and let that cost show in your body, not only your voice.

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 -- Dramatic Interpretation

This piece reads as Dramatic 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.

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