Imagining Brad and The Valerie of Now.

by Peter Hedges

IMAGINING BRAD. The action takes place in Nashville, where two women meet after church and strike up a conversation. One is Dana Sue Kaye, a brassy, voluble bleach-blonde, who chatters on about her wonderful, perfect husband her high-school sweetheart and the "best looking man in Tennessee." The other is Brad's wife (Valerie grown), a shy, soft-spoken newlywed who has just moved down from Philadelphia and is as close-mouthed about her husband as Dana Sue is forthcoming about hers. In time, however, it is revealed that Brad is a grotesque freak: armless, legless, blind and bedridden; while Dana Sue's husband is unmasked as a depraved, brutal wife abuser who, in truth, has made her life a hell. Ironically it is actually Brad, the helpless "bag of flesh," who can feel but not inflict hurt, who is really the "perfect man" and, as the play ends, Dana Sue is sorely tempted to accept Brad's wife's invitation to move in with them and share his protection. (2 women.) THE VALERIE OF NOW. A monologue in which a precocious teenager, Valerie, faces the twin crises of a birthday party and her first menstrual period. Chatting on the telephone, or to herself, Valerie contemplates the injustice of having to deal with the fears and excitement of momentous physical change even though, outwardly, she is still very much a little girl. And, in addition, a darker note is sounded with the suggestion that Valerie has also been subjected to molestation by her father. (1 woman.)"

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Peter Hedges is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film director. His novel What's Eating Gilbert Grape was adapted into a critically acclaimed movie of the same title, which launched his film career.

In 2002 he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for About a Boy. In the same year, he wrote and directed Pieces of April, starring Katie Holmes, which he dedicated to his mother.