Chester Theatre Group

by Sarah Ruhl

Opens November 9, 2007

directed by KateLyn Reiter

The Lincoln Center Hit by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Sarah Ruhl: A warm-hearted comedy that reminds us that our houses (and our lives) can never be as clean as we want them to be.

Performances: November 9 – December 1, 2007

Performances are Sunday, November 11th at 2 pm, November 16,17, 23,24, 30 and December 1 all at 8 pm. The November 9 opening is SOLD OUT. Tickets are $18 general admission with senior and student discounts ($15) on Friday and Sunday. For reservations please call (908) 879-7304.

In November and December we present A Clean House by Sarah Ruhl, an extraordinary new play fresh from its success at Lincoln Center last season. Directed by Kate Lyn Reiter, A Clean House takes place in what the author describes as “metaphysical Connecticut”, mostly in the home of a married couple who are both doctors. They have hired a housekeeper named Matilde, an aspiring comedian from Brazil who’s more interested in coming up with the perfect joke than in house-cleaning.

Into the tidy, logical, and spotless life of Lane comes the unlikely housekeeper, Matilde, a Brazilian and an aspiring comedienne. Matilde’s attitude towards dirt is: “If the floor is dirty, look at the ceiling.” Lane’s orderly universe begins immediately to unravel, “You sound like a very interesting woman. And I don’t want an interesting person to clean my house. I just want my house cleaned.”

Matilde soon becomes depressed at the idea of house cleaning, the difficulty of writing the perfect joke, and still grieving over the death of her parents (the funniest people in Brazil). Enter Lane’s sister Virginia, a woman obsessed with cleanliness, and a friendship is made along with a deal to secretly do the cleaning for Matilde. Lane discovers the women’s deception and then her universe unravels even more with the revelation that her husband Charles has left her for a patient, an older, life-embracing woman named Ana, upon whom he has performed a mastectomy. Charles introduces Ana to Lane and wants them all to get along. Lane doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry; Virginia tries to clean up; and Matilde despairs at the thought that the perfect joke could cause a person to literally laugh to death

Featuring performances by Gloria Lamoureux of Succasunna; Virginia Mesones of Union City; Lou Savarese of Randolph; Lois Sharrott of Ledgewood and Roxanna Wagner of Mendham, this theatrical and wildly funny play brings new meaning to the phrase, “I almost died laughing.”