When Monica Met Hillary Spotlights the Women at the Center of the Clinton Scandal

If you don’t know the name Monica Lewinsky, a quick internet search can clear everything up. A quarter of a century ago, Lewinsky, at the time a White House intern, had an affair with her boss, former President Bill Clinton. In fact, it’s the first thing you’ll read about her on her Wikipedia page. And former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s Wikipedia page references the scandal in the second paragraph of her life synopsis.

On Bill Clinton’s Wikipedia page, however, you’ll scroll through nearly 500 words before seeing mention of the affair that led to his impeachment (and eventual acquittal).

Wikipedia is certainly not the place to discern American sentiment surrounding political scandals, but it’s indicative that the affair’s impact on the two women – one the betrayed spouse, the other a 22-year-old intern – was more lasting than on the president.

Though both of their lives have been forever altered by the same man, Hillary and Monica – as far as the public knows – have never met. But a new play that premiered in Miami Beach is imagining what that moment might look like.

When Monica Met Hillary, a production by Miami New Drama at the Colony Theater, strivies to show audiences the humanity behind the headlines.

“I think that what the play really thrives at most is giving dignity and fully fleshed characters to two of the most famous women in the American political arena that have been caricatures,” says Michel Hausmann, Miami New Drama’s artistic director. “It’s really about the relationship between the women and the mess that they had to clean up for the men in their lives.”

Hausmann approached Winter Miller, the playwright, with an idea to produce a show about Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton three years ago. But Hausmann says Miller was much more interested in the women of this era in history.

When Monica Met Hillary spans three decades and centers on the two central characters, along with Monica Lewinsky’s mother, Marcia Lewis; and Clinton’s aide, Huma Abedin.

The women-led cast drew Kyra Kennedy, who plays Lewinsky, to audition.

“I was immediately hooked when I saw that it was just for women,” Kennedy says. “I don’t think it would be the same story if there were men involved.”

Even though the characters and timeline are familiar to Americans, Kennedy says this is no snooze-worthy staged history lesson.

“People see politics in a play, and they’re like, ‘Oh, God, it’s gonna be two hours of very serious dry stuff,'” Kennedy says. “But I assure you, it’s very well balanced.”

Danielle Skraastad, who plays Hillary Clinton, agrees that When Monica Met Hillary is neither a historical play nor a political drama.

“We’re not doing stuff from memoirs. We’re not doing stuff that anyone’s seen. It’s all imagined,” Skraastad says. “It’s the background story of how people maybe behaved behind closed doors, and while there are indications in the script to know what’s happening on the political public stage, these people are having an emotional journey that has nothing to do with what we see or may have guessed before.”

In fact, it was Skraastad’s aim not to replicate Hillary. When playing iconic figures, she says, many actors feel compelled to transform themselves. She opted not to.

“If I as an audience member am thinking about if something is accurate, I don’t feel like I’m in a play,” she explains. “Because then I’m not in a space where I can be shown something new; I’m in a place where something can fail to meet my expectations. In a true fantasy play, I don’t have to concern myself with that.”

Skraastad suspects that’s why she booked the role in the first place. At the time she sent in her video audition in November 2021, she had a cold. But the idea of spending part of the winter in Miami and working with Miller was enough motivation to get out of bed.

“I dragged myself in front of my computer to record something, and I did it like myself having to be in a situation. Not me being Hillary Clinton, but me being myself, imaging her as a powerful person and experiencing the moment in time,” Skraastad recounts. “It turned out that maybe that cold got me the job. I think if I had felt better, I would’ve tried to do these other things.”

For Kennedy, presumptions about her character weren’t much of a hurdle. She was only about 7 or 8 years old when the scandal hit the news.

“I think it was sort of a gift that I was so young when this happened, because I didn’t have a lot of preconceived notions to go back on,” she says.

Even so, Kennedy says she was pleasantly surprised to learn about Lewinsky’s personality as something other than “that woman” during rehearsals.

“I got to really just research her as a person, as opposed to a prop or pawn,” she says. “She’s so much more of a person and so much more multifaceted than the media portrayed her back then.”

Rehearsals for When Monica Met Hillary were set to begin in January but wound up being delayed by two weeks because of spiking COVID-19 case numbers. The virus remains a constantly looming fear for actors, Kennedy notes.

“It’s definitely a whole new ballgame of anxiety,” she says. “Even getting tested, you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, am I gonna be the one that brings down the show?'”

Like every theater company, Miami New Drama has had to dodge a hail of pandemic bullets.

During the early days of the pandemic, Hausmann says, things looked grim. Miami New Drama had to shut its doors just as A Wonderful World, a world-premiere musical about Louis Armstrong, was opening its run.

“I got depressed and then immediately got to work,” the artistic director says.

The company has always kept things creative. Miami New Drama aims to avoid the mainstream theater scene – most of the company’s works are never-seen-before plays.

“Most theaters in America, and also here locally, do whatever was popular on Broadway last year,” Hausmann says. “We live in Miami, which is the future of America. What I mean is that we are a much more diverse, multicultural, multilingual community than the rest of America. And so we tend to create works that are as diverse, as multicultural, and as multilingual as we are here.”

Kennedy says audiences should come to see the play, not for a reminder of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, but perhaps for a new perspective on it.

“There are a lot of twists and turns in it that the audience won’t expect,” she says. “Maybe the winner isn’t necessarily clear, but it will definitely open up a dialog that I think will be unexpected for audiences going in.”

When Monica Met Hillary. Through March 27, at the Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach; 305-674-1040; miaminewdrama.org. Tickets cost $51.50 to $71.50.