Kevin Broccoli To Set A World Record For Most Performed Monologues

Kevin Broccoli, Artistic Director of Epic Theatre Company, is ready to set the world record for Most Performed Monologues on Sunday, May 19th. All the monologues are original pieces written by Broccoli from some of his various monologue shows over the years, including Charlie's Funeral, The Acting Company, You Might Be God, and brand new pieces never before performed onstage.

"I'm always looking for opportunities to challenge myself," says Broccoli, "And on a whim, I applied to set a world record thinking they wouldn't even respond. Then I got the e-mail informing me that my application had been accepted, and after the excitement wore off, I realized I was actually going to have to go through with this."

Broccoli only recently finalized the terms of setting the record.

"It's a long process," he says, "Because you have to make sure you're not setting a record that's already been set. Initially, I was going to perform all the monologues off-book, but there's already a record for Longest Time Acting Onstage in a Single Play-several days-and even I'm not that crazy. Luckily, there really weren't any records centered around monologues, and since that's what I started out with, it seemed like a perfect fit."

Moving away from memorizing the pieces was something he was reluctant to do, but he soon saw how it could be an even bigger challenge.

"There are a ton of memorization records, so it became clear pretty quickly that while it would be a huge feat to memorize all one hundred monologues, the basis of the record should be about bringing these pieces to life-and that's not contingent on having them all stored away in my brain somewhere. We basically created a brand new record to set, which is even more exciting, and in some ways more difficult. I'm going to be performing most of these pieces script-in-hand, and while I'm not being judged on how good of an actor I am (thank goodness) I have to find a way to make all one hundred pieces dynamic and captivating over the course of ten hours or more. This is going to take dramatic reading to a whole other level."

Broccoli's attempt at the record will be live-streamed from Epic Theatre Company, located at 50 Rolfe Square. Like his "24 Playwrighting Challenge," audiences are invited to come watch. There's no admission, but donations to Epic will be accepted.

"At Epic, we always want to keep people talking," says Broccoli, "And now I'm getting ready to talk for a long, long time. Buckle up."

www.EpicTheatreRI.org