Monologue plays are a modern form of that most ancient of human entertainments , storytelling . It predates the Roman and Greek theatrical histories and can be found in the indigenous theatres of Africa , Asia and the Americas (before European colonialism) . When the French were colonizing Africa, they used the word griot to describe the various solo performers they encountered : people who used drama , comedy , pantomime , storytelling , dance , music , possession and masks to create community performance. The griots reflected , celebrated , reconstructed and questioned the community . In other words-pure unfiltered theatre . They were shamans , teachers , preachers , actors and social critics , all in one .

Leev theatre group has held monthly seminars with an emphasis on monologue in order to prepare solo theatre pieces and to improve the quality of Iranian monologues as an educating tool for actors. These seminars include lectures and discussions , performing monologues , and translating pieces and research articles .