Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeline AKA Madge.
Hi Madeline, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Am known as Madge to most in my life. Cancerian. Enneagram 4w3. Anxious owl/pissed off goose hybrid of a human. I am most present when I am in a body of water, or with kids, or on my bike in the city/horse in the country. I am an incredibly tactile and touch-driven creature.
The first time I watched The Wizard of Oz, I wrapped myself entirely in foil, stuck a funnel on my head, and declared I was the Tin Man. I was met with raucous applause and thus began a career in performance, both on and off the stage.
I am born of the vineyards in rural Australia but have set up a life above the L train in Bushwick. Senior detective parents turned paramedics and army officials bred a daughter who was not cut from the same cloth.
Straight out of high school, I was accepted into a law degree. The right thing to do. My whole body said NO, not this, anything but this. Instead, I went to Europe and danced to bad techno in Prague, jumped out of planes in Austria, and made friends with bus drivers going both directions on the Autobahn.
In 2017, I made the move to NYC. I am now miraculously a graduate of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting 3 Year Professional Conservatory Program.
At 25, I have so far lived a multi-faceted life that I’m proud of. The pandemic prompted me to shave my head, write myself letters with my left hand, and once again not complete The Artist’s Way 😉
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the tremendous privileges I have been dealt in this life.
And with this in mind, I continue to hold space for the things that haven’t been easy. I work deliberately and tirelessly to walk side by side with the youngest, bravest, most tender version of myself so that she can now safely grieve the obstacles and challenges she faced at a time she felt more scared, more alone.
I struggle less these days. It’s more of a wriggle. A wriggle out of and shedding of what was so that everything to come may be born from a place of intention and play, not grip and fear.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
First and foremost, I am an artist. An actor by trade and multi-hyphenate by nature. This means my work encompasses a variety of different roles and creative mediums. I perform, write, produce, direct, and get my hands dirty. I am ignited by stories that explore shame, healing, transgenerational trauma, the LGBTQ+ experience, relief, and the complexity of the mind/body connection.
When not pursuing artistic endeavors, you can find me learning about somatic experiencing and trauma theory with a whiskey in hand and the Marc Maron podcast on the speaker.
I also have plans to return to school for social work and become a therapist. I have been called to do this always. I aim to work within the prison system (in late 2019 and early 2020, I toured Shakespeare productions to NY state prisons and was horrified by the inner workings of the system I was briefly introduced to), and then eventually move into private practice with a focus on LGBTQ+ individuals and the treatment of trauma.
I believe healed people heal people and I am most proud of my commitment to learning about myself and understanding my inner workings.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I live with vaginismus. This “is a condition involving a muscle spasm in the pelvic floor muscles. It can make it painful, difficult, or impossible to have sexual intercourse, to undergo a gynecological exam, and to insert a tampon.” I used a googled definition because I am yet to find a way to define it for myself that isn’t “when something is inside me my body feels like a cantaloupe having it’s seeds violently scraped out of it”. I never spoke of this to anyone until last year.
Since opening up about my struggles with pelvic pain, I’ve found a community of people dealing with similar issues and my shame lessens each time I’m honest about my experiences.
I’ve become committed to being an advocate in this arena and am currently in pre-production for a limited on screen series I wrote about a woman struggling with vaginismus who tries to connect with her sexuality through rushed, reckless intimacy and vigorous EMDR trauma therapy. It is a tender, raunchy, and queer exploration of female pelvic pain and sexual dysfunction and I am so excited to share it with the world.
Representation matters. If there had been a wider array of stories like mine depicted on screens, pages, airwaves, and in galleries when I was growing and beginning to realize something was going on with my body, I may have spent less time in a shame soaked bathroom trying to force tampon after tampon inside of me, and more time disclosing my pain to confidants, loved ones, and professionals who could’ve told me I’m not broken and directed me towards a cleaner, more supported path of healing.
The series is a springboard for other aspirations. I dream that the series will become an anthology exploring all kinds of pelvic pain and be the project that launches my pelvic pain awareness platform: projectMASHED.
Through projectMASHED I have plans for a children’s book about vulvas, a podcast, a documentary, mixed media art exhibitions, workshops, and collaborations with other sex-positive and queer content creators, medical/mental health professionals, artists, activists, movers and shakers – all surrounding pelvic pain and sexual dysfunction.
It is my deepest desire that those who live with the pelvic pain are represented, held, and never alone with just their thoughts and google again.
To join me on the journey, follow along on Instagram: @projectmashed
Contact Info:
- Email: madeline.scrace@gmail.com
- Website: https://linktr.ee/projectmashed
- Instagram: @madgetable
