Free tool for actors
Scenes for Two Actors: Practice Acting Scripts
These 16 original scenes for two actors are free scripts to practice acting, each one to three pages. Half are comedic, half dramatic, for two women, two men, a woman and a man, or any pair, teens and adults. Read one, rehearse it with a reader, then learn your lines.
Written and reviewed by ScriptLix Editorial
In short
Scenes for two actors, or duologues, are short scripts two people rehearse together to practice listening and reacting. These 16 originals are comedic and dramatic, for any pairing of teens or adults, and each opens in the self tape reader and the line learner.
Two person scenes to rehearse
Showing 16 of 16. All original, written for ScriptLix. Running times are estimates at about 150 spoken words a minute.
- ComedicAny genderAdults
The Returns Desk
A customer tries to return a tent that has very clearly been camped in. The clerk has seen every trick in the book and wants the truth.
CLERK and CUSTOMER, about 2 min
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CLERK Reason for return?
CUSTOMER It didn't work.
CLERK The tent didn't work.
CUSTOMER It didn't keep the outside out.
CLERK There's a pine cone in it.
CUSTOMER That came with it.
CLERK There's a marshmallow stuck to the door.
CUSTOMER Also came with it. Bonus marshmallow. I thought that was strange.
CLERK There's a receipt in the pocket. From a campsite. Dated Saturday.
CUSTOMER Okay. I may have tested it.
CLERK For three nights.
CUSTOMER It's a big decision. You don't buy a tent after one night. You don't marry someone after one date.
CLERK You do return the tent before you marry it.
CUSTOMER Look. It rained. It rained on my face. Inside the tent. My brother in law stayed dry in a tent he bought at a gas station for nineteen dollars, and he talked about it the entire drive home. Four hours.
CLERK So it's not the tent. It's the brother in law.
CUSTOMER It's a little bit the brother in law.
CLERK (beat) Did you put the rain fly on?
CUSTOMER The what?
CLERK The rain fly. Green sheet. Goes over the top.
CUSTOMER I thought that was a picnic blanket.
CLERK You had a picnic on the rain fly.
CUSTOMER We had a lovely picnic on the rain fly.
CLERK I'll do you an exchange. Same tent. And I'll write "rain fly" on the box in marker.
CUSTOMER Could you write it big? Big enough for my brother in law to see?
- ComedicWoman and manAdults
One Spoon
Second date, a nice restaurant. Omar has just ordered one chocolate cake and two spoons. Nina has a policy, and has to explain it before the cake arrives.
OMAR and NINA, about 2 min
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OMAR I got us the cake. Two spoons. I hope that's okay.
NINA Two spoons.
OMAR Is that too forward? I can get a third spoon. For the table.
NINA Omar. I need to tell you something before the cake gets here.
OMAR Okay.
NINA I don't share food.
OMAR Like, ever?
NINA I have two older brothers. Nothing on my plate was safe until I was nineteen. I eat with my arm around the plate. Like a fence. My therapist calls it the fence.
OMAR You see a therapist about the fence?
NINA I see her about other things. The fence comes up.
OMAR So when the cake comes...
NINA When the cake comes, I'm going to want to like you. And then you're going to put your spoon in, and something old and dark is going to rise up in me.
OMAR Should I be scared?
NINA A little. My brothers still have marks.
OMAR (thinking) Okay. What if we cut it down the middle? Hard border. You have your side, I have mine.
NINA With a knife?
OMAR With a knife. Like two countries.
NINA And you never cross.
OMAR Never. I'll respect the border.
NINA And if I want some of yours?
OMAR Then you'd have to ask.
NINA (beat) Nobody's ever said I could ask.
OMAR Well. You can ask.
NINA Okay. Get the knife. Get two cakes, actually. I'll ask about the second one later.
- ComedicTwo menAdults
Two in the Morning
A nursery at two in the morning, the baby due any day. Brothers Danny and Will are assembling a crib. Will follows the instructions. Danny has never followed instructions in his life.
WILL and DANNY, about 2 min
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WILL Step four. Attach panel C to panel D with four of screw K.
DANNY Which one is K?
WILL The short one.
DANNY They're all short. They're screws.
WILL The shortest one. Look at the picture.
DANNY The picture is a little man smiling. He's smiling because he's not real. He doesn't have to do this.
WILL Give me panel C.
DANNY I already did C. And D. And something that might be E.
WILL You did them in the wrong order.
DANNY I did them in a creative order.
WILL There's a hole on the outside. That's the inside. You built it inside out.
DANNY So the baby sleeps on the outside. Fresh air.
WILL Danny.
DANNY I'm joking. I'm joking. Undo it. I'll hold the flashlight.
WILL The lights work.
DANNY I'll hold the flashlight anyway. It gives me a job.
WILL (unscrewing) You've been weird all night.
DANNY I'm always weird.
WILL You're weird with jokes. Tonight it's just weird.
DANNY (beat) Dad never built anything. You know that? Not a shelf. He paid a guy.
WILL I remember.
DANNY I want to be the guy who builds it. Even if it's inside out. I want her to sleep in something I made.
WILL Then build it.
DANNY I don't know how.
WILL Step four. Panel C. Four of screw K.
DANNY The shortest one.
WILL The shortest one.
DANNY (taking the screwdriver) Hold the flashlight.
- ComedicTwo womenAdults
The Fitting Room
A bridal shop. Bridesmaids Keisha and Marnie step out of their changing rooms in identical dresses chosen by the bride, their best friend. The dresses are a problem.
KEISHA and MARNIE, about 2 min
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KEISHA Oh no.
MARNIE Oh no.
KEISHA Is it the light?
MARNIE It's not the light. I went to the window. It's worse in nature.
KEISHA What color would you call this?
MARNIE The tag says "seafoam whisper."
KEISHA It's not whispering. It's yelling.
MARNIE Why is there a bow on the hip?
KEISHA There's one on mine too. It's like a handle. Like she's going to carry us down the aisle.
MARNIE Okay. Somebody has to tell her.
KEISHA Somebody? You. You've known her since kindergarten.
MARNIE That's why it can't be me. I told her about the bangs in tenth grade. She didn't speak to me for a month.
KEISHA The bangs were bad.
MARNIE The bangs were bad, and I was right, and I was alone at lunch for a month. You do it. She's scared of you.
KEISHA She's not scared of me.
MARNIE She calls you "the lawyer."
KEISHA I am a lawyer.
MARNIE So make a case.
KEISHA (beat) What if she loves it?
MARNIE Then we wear it.
KEISHA With the handle.
MARNIE With the handle. Because it's her day.
KEISHA (a breath) Okay. Okay. I'll say it nicely. I'll say, "We love you so much, and we wonder about the bow."
MARNIE That's perfect. Lead with the love, end with the bow.
KEISHA And if she cries, you jump in.
MARNIE And say what?
KEISHA Anything. Tell her about the bangs.
- ComedicTwo womenTeens
The Bean Plant
Lab partners Sofia and Tess, both 14, stand over the bean plant their whole science project depends on. It is dead. The report is due tomorrow.
SOFIA and TESS, about 2 min
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SOFIA Maybe it's sleeping.
TESS It's brown, Sofia. It's folded over. It looks like it fainted.
SOFIA Plants faint?
TESS This one did.
SOFIA Okay. Okay. What did we change? Our variable was music. You played it music.
TESS I played it classical every day like we said.
SOFIA Every day?
TESS Mostly.
SOFIA What does mostly mean?
TESS Thursday I played it my brother's playlist. By accident. It was on shuffle.
SOFIA What's on your brother's playlist?
TESS A lot of screaming.
SOFIA You killed it with screaming.
TESS We don't know that! That's not science, that's a guess.
SOFIA Okay. So we have two choices. We buy a new plant tonight and say it's this one.
TESS That's lying.
SOFIA Or we tell Mr. Huang the truth.
TESS That's worse.
SOFIA (beat) Wait. What if it is science?
TESS What do you mean?
SOFIA Classical, six days, plant fine. Screaming, one day, plant dead. That's a result.
TESS That's a terrible result.
SOFIA It's a real result. Nobody else has a dead plant. Everybody else has a plant that grew two centimeters. Boring.
TESS So our project is now "Can Heavy Metal Kill a Bean?"
SOFIA "The Effect of Sound on Plant Health." We say the real thing. We just say it smart.
TESS Mr. Huang is going to ask why we only did screaming once.
SOFIA Then we say more research is needed.
TESS (picking up the pot) I'm going to need to borrow my brother's speaker.
- ComedicTwo menTeens
Picture Day
A school bathroom, ten minutes before picture day photos. Leo, 15, cut his best friend Marcus's hair last night as a favor. Marcus has just seen it in daylight.
MARCUS and LEO, about 2 min
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MARCUS Leo.
LEO Don't look at it in this light. This light is harsh.
MARCUS Leo. There's a step.
LEO It's a design.
MARCUS It's a staircase. On my head. I could put a tiny man on it and he could walk up.
LEO You said you wanted something different.
MARCUS I said fade. I said "a little fade."
LEO It is faded. On the left.
MARCUS And the right?
LEO The right is more of a statement.
MARCUS Pictures are in ten minutes. This goes in the yearbook. My mom buys three copies of the yearbook. One for my grandma in Ohio.
LEO Okay. Okay. I have a plan.
MARCUS No more plans.
LEO Hat.
MARCUS No hats in pictures. That's the one rule. They say it on the announcements every day.
LEO Then we lean in. You walk in there like you meant it. Like it's the new thing.
MARCUS Nobody's going to believe the stairs are the new thing.
LEO Not if you look scared. Look at me. Chin up. Little smile. Like you know something.
MARCUS (trying it) Like this?
LEO Less like you're about to sneeze.
MARCUS (trying again) Like this?
LEO There. That's a man with stairs on purpose.
MARCUS (beat) You're cutting your own hair tonight. Same thing. Both sides.
LEO That's fair.
MARCUS And you're standing next to me in the class photo.
LEO Brothers in stairs.
- ComedicWoman and manTeens
Locker 214
First day of high school. Priya and Jake, both 14, have each been assigned locker 214. Both are holding a slip of paper. Neither is giving up.
PRIYA and JAKE, about 2 min
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PRIYA Excuse me. That's my locker.
JAKE That's funny, because it's my locker.
PRIYA (holding up her slip) Two fourteen.
JAKE (holding up his) Two fourteen.
PRIYA Mine is printed.
JAKE So is mine. They're all printed. It's a printer.
PRIYA Okay. I have a schedule. I need this locker at 8:05, 10:40 and 2:15. I have it color coded.
JAKE I just need it for my trombone.
PRIYA You can't put a trombone in a locker.
JAKE I measured. It fits if I take out the slide. Then the slide goes on top. Then I close it very slowly.
PRIYA And where do my books go?
JAKE Under the slide?
PRIYA I'm not putting my books under a slide.
JAKE Okay, you know what. Let's go to the office.
PRIYA The office line is out the door. There's a kid crying in it.
JAKE Then we need a system.
PRIYA (beat) I have systems.
JAKE I could tell.
PRIYA Top shelf is mine. Bottom is yours. Trombone goes diagonal. Nobody touches the mirror.
JAKE There's a mirror?
PRIYA There will be. I brought one. With magnets.
JAKE Can I use the mirror?
PRIYA Before band. Only before band.
JAKE (holding out his hand) Deal. I'm Jake.
PRIYA (shaking it) Priya. The combination's on my slip too, right?
JAKE It's the same combination.
PRIYA So you could have just opened it this whole time.
JAKE I was being polite.
- ComedicAny genderTeens
The Tour Guides
A historic house museum. Riley and Sam, both 16, are summer tour guides. Their tour group has stepped outside for a minute, and they have realized neither of them read the history packet.
RILEY and SAM, about 2 min
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RILEY You said you read the packet.
SAM I said I had the packet. I had it. It was in my bag. My bag was in the rain.
RILEY They asked me who built the house and I said "a man."
SAM That's true. Probably.
RILEY Then a lady asked what year and I said "the old days."
SAM Also true.
RILEY They're coming back in. There are twelve of them. One has a notebook.
SAM Okay. Okay. We improvise. You know how many tours I've been on? Tons. They all say the same stuff.
RILEY Like what?
SAM Like, the doorways are short because people were short.
RILEY Is that true?
SAM I don't know. It sounds true. Everyone nods.
RILEY What about that chair?
SAM That chair is where he sat.
RILEY Who?
SAM The man. The man sat in the chair. Very important chair. Don't let anyone sit in it.
RILEY There's a sign that says "Gift Shop Seating."
SAM (beat) Okay, skip the chair.
RILEY What about the painting of the dog?
SAM The dog was the real owner of the house.
RILEY Sam.
SAM Kids love it. The dog ran the place. He signed the papers with his paw.
RILEY We're going to get fired.
SAM We get paid nine dollars an hour. We're getting fired either way. We might as well give them a good dog.
RILEY (beat, then smiling) The dog's name was General Biscuits.
SAM See? Now you're a historian.
RILEY (opening the door, in a tour voice) Welcome back, everyone. Please don't sit in the very important chair.
- DramaticTwo womenAdults
The Piano
Their mother's living room, a week after the funeral. Sisters Claire and June are clearing the house. A man is coming at four to buy the piano. Only one of them agreed to that.
CLAIRE and JUNE, about 2 min
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CLAIRE He'll be here at four. He's bringing two guys and a dolly.
JUNE Call him and say no.
CLAIRE June, we talked about this.
JUNE You talked about it. I said "fine" so you'd stop talking.
CLAIRE Neither of us plays.
JUNE Mom played.
CLAIRE Mom played Christmas songs, badly, once a year. The middle C sticks. It's been sticking since the nineties.
JUNE I know it sticks. I'm the one who used to unstick it. With a butter knife. You were away at school.
CLAIRE That's not fair.
JUNE It's not an attack. It's a fact. I was here. I know the butter knife.
CLAIRE Where would it even go? Your apartment is a fourth floor walk up.
JUNE I'd figure it out.
CLAIRE You can't fit a couch up those stairs. You told me. You sleep on a futon because of the stairs.
JUNE (beat) It's the last thing in the house that still sounds like her.
CLAIRE It sounds like a piano.
JUNE Play the C.
CLAIRE June.
JUNE Play the middle C. Just once.
CLAIRE (she does; it sticks) There. It stuck.
JUNE Now listen. She'd always go "oh, for heaven's sake." Every time. Same words. Every Christmas.
CLAIRE (quietly) Oh, for heaven's sake.
JUNE Yeah.
CLAIRE (a long pause) I'll call him. I'll tell him we need a month.
JUNE A month.
CLAIRE And then we find someone who'll fix the C, and we give it to a school. Somewhere kids will bang on it.
JUNE She'd hate that.
CLAIRE She'd love that. She'd pretend to hate it.
JUNE (nodding) Okay. Bring the butter knife with it.
- DramaticTwo menAdults
The Batting Cage
A batting cage on a weeknight. Ray, 60s, feeds the machine. His son Michael, 27, home from his second year of law school, has asked to come along. He has something to say between pitches.
RAY and MICHAEL, about 2 min
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RAY Elbow up. You're dropping it.
MICHAEL I know.
RAY You knew at twelve, too. Still dropped it.
MICHAEL Dad. Can you stop the machine a second?
RAY We paid for twenty.
MICHAEL I'll pay for twenty more.
RAY (stopping it) What.
MICHAEL I'm not going back in January.
RAY Back where?
MICHAEL School. I'm done. I already told them.
RAY You told them. Before you told me.
MICHAEL I knew you'd do the voice.
RAY What voice?
MICHAEL That one. The one you're doing right now.
RAY You've got one year left. One. You know what I'd have given for one year of anything? I drove a truck for thirty years so you could carry a briefcase.
MICHAEL I know. That's why it took me two years to say it.
RAY So what then? What's the plan?
MICHAEL I've been working at Uncle Tony's shop on weekends. Restoring cars. He says I've got hands for it.
RAY Tony says a lot of things.
MICHAEL He says I've got your hands.
RAY (beat) He said that?
MICHAEL He said you used to fix every car on the block for free. Before me. Before the truck.
RAY That was a long time ago.
MICHAEL You never told me that.
RAY It wasn't a job. It was a thing I did.
MICHAEL I want it to be the job.
RAY (long pause; he starts the machine again) Elbow up.
MICHAEL Dad.
RAY Elbow up. If you're going to do something stupid, you're going to do it right.
- DramaticWoman and manAdults
The Kitchen Light
Midnight, a kitchen. Dana, 40s, has been waiting up. Her husband Paul comes in from "work," carrying his briefcase. Dana called his office today.
DANA and PAUL, about 2 min
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DANA How was work?
PAUL Long. You didn't have to wait up.
DANA I called your office today.
PAUL (beat) Oh.
DANA A girl answered. Very nice. She said you haven't worked there since March.
PAUL Dana.
DANA March, Paul. It's September. Where do you go?
PAUL The library. Mostly. Sometimes the park by the river, if it's nice out.
DANA Every day.
PAUL Eight to six. I take the same train.
DANA And the money? The paychecks?
PAUL Severance. And then the savings.
DANA Our savings.
PAUL I was going to fix it before you noticed. I've had interviews. Eleven. I got close twice.
DANA You sat in a library for six months so you wouldn't have to tell me.
PAUL I sat in a library for six months so you wouldn't have to look at me like that.
DANA Like what?
PAUL Like I'm a man who sits in a library.
DANA (beat) What do you read?
PAUL What?
DANA Six months. What do you read?
PAUL (surprised) Boats, mostly. Old sailing books. There's a whole shelf.
DANA You hate boats.
PAUL I know. I think that's why.
DANA (sitting down) Tomorrow you don't take the train.
PAUL Okay.
DANA Tomorrow we sit at this table, and we look at the numbers, both of us.
PAUL They're bad.
DANA Then we'll look at bad numbers. Together. That's the job now.
PAUL (sitting across from her) I'm sorry.
DANA I know. Turn off the light. We'll do it in the morning.
- DramaticAny genderAdults
The Co-Signer
A coffee shop. Alex has asked old friend Jordan to meet. Alex has a lease form, a pen, and a favor. Jordan has a long memory.
ALEX and JORDAN, about 2 min
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ALEX It's just a signature. It's a formality. They want a co-signer because I've only been at the new job four months.
JORDAN You've only been at every job four months.
ALEX This one's different.
JORDAN That's what you said about the food truck.
ALEX The food truck was a good idea.
JORDAN It was a great idea. And I lent you three thousand dollars for it. And the truck is now a planter in your mom's yard.
ALEX I paid you back.
JORDAN You paid me back four hundred. In cash. In a birthday card. Two years late.
ALEX (beat) I know. I know. That's why I'm asking you. Because you know exactly who I am, and if you sign it, it means something.
JORDAN What does it mean?
ALEX That somebody thinks I can do it.
JORDAN Why can't someone else sign?
ALEX There's no one else. My parents won't. My sister laughed. Actually laughed. Out loud. At a restaurant.
JORDAN And I'm next.
ALEX You're not next. You're first. I asked them first because I didn't want to ask you. Because you'd actually say yes, and then I'd actually have to not let you down.
JORDAN (long pause) How much is the rent?
ALEX Twelve fifty.
JORDAN I'll sign on one condition.
ALEX Anything.
JORDAN Every month, you text me a picture of the rent receipt. Every month. No message. Just the picture.
ALEX That's it?
JORDAN The first month you miss, I call your sister. And she laughs again.
ALEX (laughing despite everything) Deal.
JORDAN (taking the pen) And I want the other two thousand six hundred.
ALEX In a birthday card?
JORDAN On time.
- DramaticTwo womenTeens
The Cast List
A school hallway, right after the cast list for the spring musical goes up. Best friends Ana and Bree, both 16, both auditioned for the lead. Bree got it. Ana didn't get a part at all.
BREE and ANA, about 2 min
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BREE Ana. Wait.
ANA I saw it. Congratulations.
BREE Don't say it like that.
ANA Like what? I said congratulations. I'm being nice. It's taking everything I have.
BREE I didn't even think I'd get a callback. You were the one who made me audition.
ANA I know. That's the funny part.
BREE There's a crew sign up. Stage manager. Mr. Price said...
ANA I'm not doing crew so I can watch you from a headset.
BREE That's not what I meant.
ANA I know what you meant. You meant it nicely. Everything you do is nice. That's the problem. I can't even be mad at you properly.
BREE Be mad. Go ahead. I'll stand here.
ANA (beat) I practiced the song two hundred times. My little brother can sing it. He's six.
BREE I know. I heard you through the phone every night.
ANA And you practiced it, what, twenty?
BREE Twelve.
ANA Twelve.
BREE I'm sorry.
ANA Don't be sorry. You were better. I sat in the back of the auditorium and I heard you, and you were better, and I hated it, because you were better.
BREE (quietly) Will you still run lines with me?
ANA (long pause) You're going to mess up the second verse. You always come in late.
BREE I know.
ANA Every day after school. My house. My brother can play the piano part.
BREE He's six.
ANA He's very good.
- DramaticTwo menTeens
Cleared to Play
A locker room before the championship game. Teammates Jaylen and Owen, both 17. Owen took a hard hit in Tuesday's practice. He told the trainer he was fine. Jaylen was there.
JAYLEN and OWEN, about 1 min
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JAYLEN How many fingers?
OWEN Get your hand out of my face.
JAYLEN How many?
OWEN Three. Happy?
JAYLEN It was two.
OWEN It was three, you bent one. Leave it alone, Jay.
JAYLEN You threw up after practice on Tuesday. I saw you behind the bleachers.
OWEN It was the burrito.
JAYLEN You asked me what day it was. Twice. On Wednesday.
OWEN (beat) There's a scout here tonight. From State. He came for me. Coach told me. One game.
JAYLEN And if you take another hit like Tuesday?
OWEN Then I take it.
JAYLEN You don't get to say that like it's brave.
OWEN What do you want me to do? Sit on the bench in a hoodie while the scout watches you?
JAYLEN Yes. Honestly. Yes.
OWEN Of course you'd say that.
JAYLEN That's not fair and you know it.
OWEN (quiet) Sorry. That's not fair.
JAYLEN I'm going to tell the trainer.
OWEN Jay.
JAYLEN I'm telling you first so it's not behind your back. You can come with me, or I go alone.
OWEN You'll ruin it. This was my shot.
JAYLEN Scouts come back. Brains don't.
OWEN (long pause) Did you practice that line?
JAYLEN In the shower. All week.
OWEN (standing, slowly) It's a good line.
JAYLEN I know. Come on. I'll walk with you.
- DramaticWoman and manTeens
The Roof
The flat roof outside Maya's bedroom window, the night before her family moves across the country. Her best friend Eli, 15, has climbed up the drainpipe like he has a hundred times. It's the last time.
ELI and MAYA, about 2 min
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ELI The drainpipe's loose again.
MAYA Dad was going to fix it. Then he sold the house.
ELI The new people are going to find so many of my footprints.
MAYA I'll leave them a note. "Boy on the roof. He's harmless."
ELI (sitting) So. Twenty eight hours of driving.
MAYA Thirty one, with my mom's bathroom breaks.
ELI And then what.
MAYA Then a new school. A new everything. They have a lake. Mom keeps saying "there's a lake" like that fixes it.
ELI Lakes are nice.
MAYA You hate lakes.
ELI I hate fish. Lakes are fine.
MAYA (beat) We'll text. Right?
ELI Every day. For like a month. And then every other day. And then you'll make friends with somebody who has a boat.
MAYA I won't.
ELI You should. You should make friends. I'm not mad about the boat person. I'm mad about the drainpipe.
MAYA What does that mean?
ELI It means nobody's going to climb up to my window. I don't have a roof. I have a basement.
MAYA So I'll come back. Summers.
ELI You'll come back once. And it'll be weird. And we'll both pretend it's not.
MAYA (quiet) Why are you being like this?
ELI Because if I'm normal I'll cry. And I'm not crying on your roof. It's a nice roof. I respect it.
MAYA (after a moment, leaning on his shoulder) Stay till the stars come out.
ELI They're out.
MAYA All of them.
ELI (settling in) Okay. All of them.
- DramaticAny genderTeens
The Answers
The empty art room at lunch, the day before a final exam. Jordan, 16, has a photo of the answer key on their phone. They're offering it to Casey, 16, who is failing the class.
JORDAN and CASEY, about 2 min
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JORDAN I'm not going to show anybody else. Just you.
CASEY Where did you get it?
JORDAN Doesn't matter. Mr. Dale left it on the copier. Somebody took a picture. It's been going around since second period.
CASEY So everybody has it.
JORDAN Everybody who matters. You want it or not?
CASEY If I fail this, I'm in summer school. My mom already said if I'm in summer school, I'm not going to my dad's.
JORDAN So take it.
CASEY I haven't seen my dad since Christmas.
JORDAN Casey. Then take it.
CASEY (beat) What if he changes the test?
JORDAN He's not going to change the test. He's had the same test since my sister was here.
CASEY What if he knows?
JORDAN He doesn't know. He thinks the copier ate it.
CASEY Why are you giving it to me?
JORDAN Because you're my friend.
CASEY Did you use it?
JORDAN (pause) I don't need it. I have a B.
CASEY So you don't need it, and I do, and if somebody gets caught, it's me.
JORDAN That's not why.
CASEY I know it's not why. But it's what happens.
JORDAN So what, you're just going to fail? For a principle?
CASEY I'm going to study. Tonight. All night. Will you help me?
JORDAN I'm not good at chemistry.
CASEY You have a B.
JORDAN (slowly putting the phone away) Okay. My house. Seven. Bring snacks. Chemistry needs snacks.
CASEY And delete the picture.
JORDAN Already gone.
How to use it
- 1
Read the scene aloud together once, cold, without acting it.
- 2
Each actor writes one sentence: what my character wants from the other person in this scene.
- 3
Find the turn, the line where something changes, and play everything before it toward that moment.
- 4
Run it on its feet, then run it again changing one choice each time.
What is a duologue?
A duologue is a scene for two actors, often used in acting classes, drama exams and auditions in place of a monologue. It tests the thing a monologue cannot: whether you listen and respond to a real partner.
How do I choose a two person scene?
Pick a scene where both characters want something, so neither of you is just feeding lines. Filter by casting and age to match your pair, then read two or three out loud. Keep the one where you both laughed or both went quiet at the same moment.
How do I practice a scene without a partner?
Use the Rehearse this scene button: it opens the self tape reader with your scene loaded, so the other part is read to you while you play yours. Learn your lines opens the line learner, which hides your lines a few words at a time until you know them cold.
Can I use these acting scenes for a class or a showcase?
Yes. They are original scripts written for this site and free to perform in classes, workshops, school showcases and self tapes. Change names or genders if your pair needs it.
Questions writers ask
Are these scenes for two actors free?
Yes. Every scene is original and free to read, rehearse and perform in classes and showcases.
How long are the scenes?
Each runs about one to three minutes, roughly one to three script pages. The card shows an estimate.
Do you have scenes for two teens?
Yes. Set the age filter to teens. Half of the scenes are written for teenage characters.
Can two women play a scene marked woman and man?
Often, yes. Change the name and pronouns and check the scene still makes sense. Scenes marked any gender work for anyone as written.