Asolo Repertory Theatre to Present BOTH YOUR HOUSES

The old adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same," rings resoundingly true in this Pulitzer Prize-winning American classic. Helmed by Tony Award-winning director Frank Galati, Maxwell Anderson's scintillating political satire BOTH YOUR HOUSES opens Friday, January 23, 2015 at 8pm at Asolo Rep, with previews Wednesday, January 21 and Thursday, January 22 at 8pm. The play runs in rotating rep through Sunday, April 12, 2015. The title of this smart production derives from Mercutio's famous line in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: "a plague on both your houses."

In the early 1930s, rookie representative Alan McClean is determined to clean up Capitol Hill. His tenacity is challenged by an ironclad political machine led by seasoned congressmen who are more interested in their own financial gain than their constituents' welfare - sound familiar? When Alan discovers that he can't beat his opponents at their own game, he shakes things up and what unfolds is a spirited, riveting political chess match.

"Maxwell Anderson's BOTH YOUR HOUSES is a shrewd, fast-paced and witty play about getting a bill through congress," said Michael Donald Edwards, producing artistic director of Asolo Rep. "This gripping satirical masterpiece will take our audiences on an exhilarating ride as they experience what it's like to be at the center of political contention and its startling resolution."

Anderson is a highly acclaimed playwright, journalist, author and poet who wrote several American classics, including Winterset, Bad Seed and Knickerbocker Holiday and historical dramas including Elizabeth the Queen and Mary of Scotland. BOTH YOUR HOUSES continues the third season of Asolo Rep's American Character Project. Director Frank Galati kicked off the five-year exploration with his highly acclaimed production of 1776, a look at the birth of this nation. In BOTH YOUR HOUSES, Galati visits America's decision makers in the 1930s and examines how these leaders, and their motives, have changed. Because the Maxwell Anderson Estate has given Frank Galati the opportunity to revisit the original text, he has sculpted it in a way that gives the second act an exciting velocity.

"In Anderson's satire both houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, are equally venal and corrupt," said Galati. "Everyone in the play is an American character but only one of the Americans in the play has real character - the young congressman at the center of the action provides a moral compass in a tempest of graft and corruption. This play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1933 and 81 years later we still want to scream, 'a plague on both your houses.'"