She Moves And the Culture Moves With Her

Happy Birthday, Madonna!

Ramona is basically a love letter to Patti Smith. But 20 years earlier, I wrote another love letter, a play called Smashing, in which a character named Clea, played by the incredible Merritt Wever, expresses her adoration for Madonna. Like, a lot. I would say that Clea’s monologues are my most well-known pieces of writing. I regularly hear from actresses who used either of the two longer speeches to get into grad school or for their audition monologues. Just today, on a fundraising call for a nonprofit, someone said, “Are you Brooke Berman who wrote Smashing? I used to do that monologue.”

So in honor of Madonna’s birthday, here’s a little Clea. Stay tuned for more Ramona. We’ll be publishing a two-part September Issue (because who doesn’t love The September Issue) on film festivals. Xx’s/bb

Katharine Powell and Merritt Wever, Smashing, dir. by Trip Cullman, The Play Company, 2003

CLEA
Madonna Marathon. Three whole days of nonstop Madonna on your favorite music video network. One must stay in for events like this. Ferret out the people one knows with television sets and cable. To absorb all the imagery surrounding Her. The most famous woman in the world. Self-made, self-invented and totally self-serving.  Unapologetic. Fierce. A goddess. She touches things and they move. She shifts and the culture shifts with her. She gets everything right, even when she's wrong. Clearly, she is my hero. I mean, she would be if I believed in that kind of thing, which I don't because Abby says they break your heart, but if I did, she'd be it. She helps me persevere in the face of great odds. And a girl alone in college in New York City with an insufficient Pell Grant and an overdeveloped inner life does face these odds. Rather a lot. But She walked this path before me. Alone in the City without resources. Getting into the groove.

ABBY
She’s all about herself.

CLEA
So?

ABBY
So, that’s ego.

CLEA
So? … I mean, don’t you think that’s a bold statement? She’s not self-effacing or self-punishing. And her drive is like, you know, we should totally support drive. And blonde ambition. 

ABBY
But for good causes. Her cause is just, herself.

CLEA
Not true! She does a lot for AIDS groups and … she totally raises money for AIDS groups. Besides, some people have to get themselves out of a bad place and into a better one before they can be like, a statement for larger forces. I took this religion class last semester where they said that the sacraments were conceived on this totally patriarchal model and that for women it’s a different thing altogether. I mean, like, for us, anger and drive and ambition, all that stuff female characters always get totally punished for? Those might be our sacraments!

ABBY
What class was this?

CLEA
Women and Religion.

ABBY
I see.

CLEA
It was a good class.

ABBY
I’m sure.