# Talene Monahon

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{{short description|American actress and playwright}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Talene Monahon
| image       = TaleneMonahon-byPhilipRomano.jpg
| caption     = Monahon in 2025
| birth_date  = 
| birth_place = [Boston](/source/Boston), [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts), U.S.
| death_date  = 
| death_place = 
| education   = [Dartmouth College](/source/Dartmouth_College) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts))
}}
'''Talene Monahon''' is an Armenian-American actress and playwright.

Her play ''[Meet the Cartozians](/source/Meet_the_Cartozians)'' was a finalist for the 2026 [Pulitzer Prize for Drama](/source/Pulitzer_Prize_for_Drama).<ref>{{Cite web |title=2026 Pulitzer Prizes |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2026|website=pulitzer.org }}Retrieved 2026-05-05.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2026 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama, Talene Monahon |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/talene-monahon |website=pulitzer.org }}Retrieved 2026-05-05.</ref>

==Childhood and education==
Monahon was born in [Boston](/source/Boston) and grew up in [Belmont, Massachusetts](/source/Belmont%2C_Massachusetts).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/bio/talene-monahon/|title=Talene Monahon|website=Huntington Theatre Company|accessdate=May 6, 2026}}</ref><ref name="WKFI">{{cite news |last1=Killeen |first1=Wendy |title=French Impressions |publisher=Boston Globe |date=24 July 2005}}</ref> She is a 2013 graduate of [Dartmouth College](/source/Dartmouth_College).<ref name="KSAC">{{cite news |last1=Schreiber |first1=Katherine |title=Monahon '13 discusses her acting career |agency=University News Wire |newspaper=[The Dartmouth](/source/The_Dartmouth) |date=12 October 2015}}</ref>

Monahon was a child actor in regional and amateur productions in the Boston area.<ref name="WellT">{{cite news |title='Oz' playing in Wellesley, with a twist |url=https://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/03/16/oz_playing_in_wellesley_with_a_twist/ |access-date=20 January 2020 |newspaper=[The Boston Globe](/source/The_Boston_Globe) |date=16 March 2006}}</ref><ref name="WKFI"/><ref name="KSAC"/>

==''How to Load a Musket''==
''How to Load a Musket'', Monahon's play about [historical reenactment](/source/historical_reenactment), was produced as a staged reading at the [Cape Cod Theatre Project](/source/Cape_Cod_Theatre_Project) in 2017,<ref name="LAM">{{cite web |first=Beth|last=Armstrong|title=CCTP Presents 'How To Load A Musket' |url=https://www.capenews.net/arts_and_entertainment/cctp-presents-how-to-load-a-musket/article_61fec6c9-b63c-5321-bb1f-6e8e993ea45d.html |accessdate=20 January 2020 |website=[The Enterprise](/source/The_Enterprise_(Cape_Cod))<!--Possibly [The Enterprise (Brockton)](/source/The_Enterprise_(Brockton)) but possibly not--> |date=14 July 2017}}</ref> and had its premier production at Manhattan's [59E59 Theaters](/source/59E59_Theaters) in January 2020.<ref name="59E59">{{cite press release |title=HOW TO LOAD A MUSKET makes world premiere at 59E59 Theaters |url=https://www.59e59.org/media/filer_public/bf/45/bf459ee4-e2ff-4fbb-b26e-194a50734f74/musket_release.pdf|website=59e59.org|publisher=59E59 Theaters |location=New York City|date=November 25, 2019|accessdate=July 14, 2021}}</ref><ref name="ASGR">{{cite news |last1=Soloski |first1=Alexis |title='How to Load a Musket' Review: A Play About Re-enactors Gets Real |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/theater/how-to-load-a-musket-review.html |accessdate=January 20, 2020 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=16 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="BCAI">{{cite news |last1=Chadwick |first1=Bruce |title=A Play About Historical Reenactors Grapples With American Identity |url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174075 |date=January 19, 2020|accessdate=20 January 2020 |agency=[History News Network](/source/History_News_Network)}}</ref><ref name="RSLM">{{cite news |last1=Snook |first1=Raven |title=How to Load a Musket |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/how-to-load-a-musket |website=[Time Out New York](/source/Time_Out_New_York) |date=21 January 2020}}</ref>

Monahon began researching [historical reenactment](/source/historical_reenactment) in 2015, first interviewing [Revolutionary War](/source/American_Revolutionary_War) reenactors in Massachusetts and New York, then interviewing [Civil War](/source/U.S._Civil_War) reenacters and performance artist [Dread Scott](/source/Dread_Scott), who produced a 2017 reenactment of the [1811 German Coast uprising](/source/1811_German_Coast_uprising). Monahon's play is created entirely from the words of her politically, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse interviewees, whose views of their hobby evolve over the years during which the interviews took place.<ref name="OCLM">{{cite magazine |last1=Clement |first1=Olivia |title=Adam Chanler-Berat, Carolyn Braver, Ryan Spahn, More Tapped for World Premiere of How to Load a Musket |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/adam-chanler-berat-carolyn-braver-ryan-spahn-more-tapped-for-world-premiere-of-how-to-load-a-musket |accessdate=20 January 2020 |magazine=[Playbill](/source/Playbill_(magazine)) |date=25 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="ASGR"/>

==Acting==

Monahon has performed on stage in New York and other cities.<ref name="MPGCS">{{cite news |last1=Phillips |first1=Maya |title=Review: Stuck in Maine in 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/theater/nothing-gold-can-stay-review.html |accessdate=20 January 2020 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=9 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="BBA">{{cite news |last1=Brantley |first1=Ben |title=Review: Stockard Channing Is a Mother to Remember in 'Apologia' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/theater/review-apologia-stockard-channing-roundabout.html |accessdate=20 January 2020 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=16 December 2018}}</ref><ref name="LCH">{{cite news |last1=Collins-Hughes |first1=Laura |title=Review: In 'Widowers' Houses,' Loving a Slumlord's Daughter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/theater/review-in-widowers-houses-loving-a-slumlords-daughter.html |accessdate=20 January 2020 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=14 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="MSAH">{{cite news |last1=Sommers |first1=Michael |title=How to Load a Musket: Re-creating Your Own Personal American History |url=http://nystagereview.com/2020/01/17/how-to-load-a-musket-re-creating-your-own-personal-american-history/ |accessdate=20 January 2020 |magazine=[New York Stage Review](/source/New_York_Stage_Review) |date=17 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="MWFF">{{cite news |last1=Windman |first1=Matt |title='The Government Inspector' review: Talented cast romps in high-energy, fast-paced farce |newspaper=[Newsday](/source/Newsday) |date=2 June 2017}}</ref>  ''[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)'' theater critic Laura Collins-Hughes describes Monahon as playing Blanche Sartorious in [George Bernard Shaw](/source/George_Bernard_Shaw)'s ''[Widowers' Houses](/source/Widowers'_Houses)'' "with such take-no-prisoners ferocity that she awakened the sleeping man in front of me during a fight scene."<ref name="LCH"/> [Terry Teachout](/source/Terry_Teachout), theater critic for the ''[Wall Street Journal](/source/Wall_Street_Journal)'', described Monahon's Blanche as "a startlingly predatory vampire," in a production of Shaw's work that was "as good as it gets."<ref name="TTWSJ">{{cite news |last1=Teachout |first1=Terry |title='Widowers' Houses' Review: The Things We Do for Money |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/widowers-houses-review-the-things-we-do-for-money-1458682431 |accessdate=20 January 2020 |newspaper=[The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal) |date=22 March 2016}}</ref>

Monahon has a handful of television acting credits, most recently appearing as Assistant District Attorney Conway in the [CBS](/source/CBS) legal drama ''[Bull](/source/Bull_(2016_TV_series))''.<ref name=Monahon-IMDB>{{cite web |title=Talene Monahon at IMDB | website=[IMDb](/source/IMDb) |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10581304/?ref_=tt_cl_t9 |accessdate=28 April 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Monahon, Talene}}
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:American stage actresses
Category:People from Belmont, Massachusetts
Category:Dartmouth College alumni
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American women dramatists and playwrights
Category:Writers from Massachusetts
Category:Actresses from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Category:American television actresses
Category:American writers of Armenian descent

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Talene Monahon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talene_Monahon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talene_Monahon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.