THE TOWEL LADY

A woman hangs out her laundry while telling her unusual views on towels - and life.
(Watch a video of Tori Langley in THE TOWEL LADY)
© 1989  all rights reserved
  by Janet S. Tiger

Characters - 1 Actress  - older
         Set – Can be bare, very little furniture. 
         Props – Laundry basket, towels, clothesline.

(A woman comes onto the stage with a basket of laundry, which she puts down heavily.  She quickly places three pairs of men’s shorts on the line, using her mouth to hold the wooden clothespins. She is an expert at this, the way a good sign painter is an expert at his job.  Then she takes a towel from the basket and she stops, turning to the audience, holding the towel in a kind of reverie.)

THE TOWEL LADY – You know, a new towel is a wonderful thing. Come on, you ladies all know what I’m talking about!  Now, I can understand why the men are muttering to themselves, because no man can appreciate a good towel.  But you ladies know what I’m saying is true!  Only another woman knows what I’m talkin’ about…(She holds out the towel to illustrate.)

Isn’t it beautiful when it’s brand new?  It’s so soft and good smellin”.  It has a youthful way about it, kinda sassy, but innocent.  You men are sittin’ there wonderin’ why the hell you came to lsiten to some old woman talk about the laundry, but if you listened for once in your lives, maybe you’d learn something.

See this towel?  I just bought it today.  It ain’t never been touched by any hands ‘cept mine.  Well, maybe somebody touched it in the store first, but since I didn’t see it and it didn’t leave no mark, it don’t matter…(examining the edges)   It’s perfect.  I never buy those ‘seconds’ with their funny lines down the middle and the frayed bottoms.  They don’t last as long.  I buy hunnert per-cent thick cotton Cannon towels made for J.C. Penney. The thirsty ones.

Men never did understand towels.  And that’s because they treat their towels just like they treat their women. 
....
[This monologue has a great ending and allows the actress the chance to show a range of emotions.]
If you would like to purchase THE TOWEL LADY...
Running time – 3 minutes 
$5.00/script
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Published in THE SCENEBOOK FOR ACTORS: Great Monologs and Dialogs from Contemporary and Classical Theatre, edited by Norman A. Bert.  1990. Meriwether Publishing Ltd./Colorado Springs, Colorado

Performers

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Rolly Fanton played   THE TOWEL LADY in San Diego, Sept. 16-17, 2006
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Pin Chen was the understudy, performing the last show on Sept. 17, 2006.
For more info, click here to go to Pin Chen's website.
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A performance in Jakarta, Indonesia!

Congratulations to Maree Cole in Australia- one of the STORM THE STAGE 2007 FINALISTS for THE TOWEL LADY

Congratulations to Kendra M. who used THE TOWEL LADY monologue as her audition piece and was accepted into the presitigious in La Scuola Teatro de Matavo in Italy. Kendra has peformed THE TOWEL LADY successfully before - and we hope we can hear her perform it in Italian!