Cleanliness, Godliness, and Madness: A User's Guide

by Charlotte Meehan

When Mary and Grace, two fundamentalist Christian homemakers, found MOTOREDE (aka, The Movement to Restore Decency), an “organization” devoted to family values, guns, and supporting your local police, they suddenly find themselves engaging in sexual escapades with each other. This is only the beginning of how far the devil will go to tempt perfectly decent citizens into a life of sin. In a media saturated...

When Mary and Grace, two fundamentalist Christian homemakers, found MOTOREDE (aka, The Movement to Restore Decency), an “organization” devoted to family values, guns, and supporting your local police, they suddenly find themselves engaging in sexual escapades with each other. This is only the beginning of how far the devil will go to tempt perfectly decent citizens into a life of sin. In a media saturated, Expressionistic setting, Cleanliness, Godliness, and Madness provides a tragi-comic view into the absurdity of far right Christian fundamentalism, Tea Party values, and the hypocrisy that lives just beneath the surface of a stringent system of beliefs perpetrated by some of this country’s biggest hypocrites: televangelists and politicians going to any lengths to win over more believers. Since the play premiered in September 2016, Donald Trump became the 45th president and the paranoia, fear, and hatred exhibited by the characters in CGM have become all the more commonplace in our everyday lives. What was a pre-election warning has become an urgent call to action in defense of our most sacred democratic ideals, though the play pointedly leaves interpretation up to each audience member.

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Cleanliness, Godliness, and Madness: A User's Guide

Recommended by

  • Greg Lam: Cleanliness, Godliness, and Madness: A User's Guide

    A political satire first produced in the run-up to the 2016 election. Sadly, it's more relevant than ever! A searing indictment of right wing demagoguery by characters who are not living up to their preaching. It's a multimedia script, with visuals occasionally commenting on the action on stage. With that said, it's also very funny and adventurous and not just a one-sided polemic. Speaking with the playwright for my podcast, a surprising amount of the seemingly cartoonish demagogues was drawn from her own family upbringing.

    This play is an episode of Boston Podcast Players (https://www...

    A political satire first produced in the run-up to the 2016 election. Sadly, it's more relevant than ever! A searing indictment of right wing demagoguery by characters who are not living up to their preaching. It's a multimedia script, with visuals occasionally commenting on the action on stage. With that said, it's also very funny and adventurous and not just a one-sided polemic. Speaking with the playwright for my podcast, a surprising amount of the seemingly cartoonish demagogues was drawn from her own family upbringing.

    This play is an episode of Boston Podcast Players (https://www.bostonpodcastplayers.com/updates/2019/3/6/charlotte-meehan)

Character Information

  • MARY
    Because this play interrogates White Supremacy, the two lead female characters are white.
    Character Age
    30s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    White
    Character Gender Identity
    (assigned female at birth - plot relevant)
  • GRACE
    Because this play interrogates White Supremacy, the two lead female characters are white.
    Character Age
    40s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    White
    Character Gender Identity
    (assigned female at birth - plot relevant) Female
  • DICK
    Because this play interrogates White Supremacy, the two male characters (who are onscreen only) are white.
    Character Age
    40s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    White
    Character Gender Identity
    (assigned male at birth - plot relevant) Male
  • HARRY
    Because this play interrogates White Supremacy, the two male characters (onscreen only) are white.
    Character Age
    30s-40s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    White
    Character Gender Identity
    (assigned male at birth - plot relevant) Male

Development History

  • Type Commission, Organization Sleeping Weazel (www.sleepingweazel.com), Year 2016

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization Boston Center for the Arts (a Sleeping Weazel production), Year 2016