Redland Bay actor Lee-Challe Kriel is one step closer to becoming a professional actor after being selected for the World Monologue Games regional finals, one of 27 events featuring the best international competitors from 51 countries.
Lee-Challe said the global pandemic and its effect on the arts hadn't deterred her love for performing.
A Year 12 Cleveland High school student, Lee-Challe said her drama teacher from Brisbane Acting and Drama at Cleveland, Marianna Psaltis suggested she enter and that she had a good chance in the competition.
Her monologue speaks to the struggles of body image and dealing with a food disorder.
"This is such a great piece to perform. It highlights the struggle of a teenage girl dealing with the pressure of society and the perception of the perfect body. This led to her to a very dark place, dealing with a food disorder and depression," she said.
Lee-Challe said although she had never experienced these issues herself, she had witnessed it in some friends.
"It's easy to connect to this at my age and draw from the experiences of my friends in performance. I love doing realism acting. It was a good piece for me to do well," she said.
Lee-Challe said she hoped to study acting when she finished school and would apply at QUT, Griffith university and NIDA.
World Monologue Games was set up last year by Pete Malicki, who wanted a lockdown-friendly platform for performers.
"It's definitely special to have our second season take place in an Olympics year. We have the best performers getting together to show the world what they're made of. I'm not sure where else you can see such a diverse range of actors all in the same place," Mr Malicki said.The finals will be livestreamed from August to October 2021, with the winners of six different categories competing for $5000 cash in the global finals.
The event timeline can be seen at monologues.com.au/WMG-timeline
