SU Theatre Presents Sarah Ruhl's 'The Clean House' November 18-21

SALISBURY, MD---The best things in life—a sublime joke, a fulfilling purpose, a soul mate—are infinitely worth waiting for.

That’s the premise behind Sarah Ruhl’s whimsical The Clean House, presented by Salisbury University’s Bobbi Biron Theatre Program Friday-Sunday, November 12-14, and Thursday-Sunday, November 18-21. Curtain is 8 p.m., 2 p.m. Sundays.

Directed by Robert Smith of the Department of Theatre and Dance, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play opens with a tantalizing untranslated joke, told with a raunchy exuberance by a young woman from Brazil named Matilde. When she is not thinking up jokes, Matilde gets depressed—and when Matilde gets depressed, she doesn’t clean.

But Matilde has been hired to clean Lane’s house, and her allergic reaction to Windex and feather dusters has the even-tempered Lane on edge. Fortunately for both, Lane’s unhappily idle sister, Virginia, sees the quintessence in dust: “If you do not clean, how do you know if you’ve made any progress in life?”

Virginia persuades Matilde to let her clean her sister’s house on the sly, thereby setting in motion a series of events that gradually reorders—and ineluctably deepens—the relationships among the play’s characters.

Hailed by The New York Times as “one of the finest and funniest new plays you’re likely to see,” The Clean House “promises a bright evening in bleak November,” said Dr. T. Paul Pfeiffer, artistic director of the theatre program.

The all-student cast includes Adam C. Burns, Cat Chapman, Jenifer Manning, Casey Williams and Katherine Worley. The set is designed by Dr. David Shuhy, lighting by Tom Anderson and costumes by Leslie Yarmo.

Admission is $15, $12 for seniors and non-SU students. SU ID holders receive one ticket free. Tickets are available online at www.salisbury.edu/theatreanddance. Tickets also may be purchased through the SU Box Office, Fulton Hall Room 100.

The Clean House is recommended for mature audiences. For more information call 410-548-5588 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.