THE CLEAN HOUSE is at the Long Beach Playhouse Beginning This Week

From award-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl comes this dramatic comedy infused with laughter and magical realism. Married physicians Lane and Charles have hired Matilde, a Brazilian woman, to clean their house. Unbeknownst to them Matilde’s goal was not to be a cleaning lady but to become a comedian. Fortunately, Lane’s eccentric sister Virginia is a clean freak and happy to take over the house cleaning while Matilde works on her jokes. Meanwhile, Charles has fallen in love with one of his patients, Ana, a charismatic woman who has just undergone a mastectomy. As Lane’s life seems to fall apart, humor, pain, and mortality bring the women together in this whimsical and wildly funny play about class, comedy, and the true nature of love.

“Ruhl calls this play a romantic comedy about loss, love, change and redemption,” said Madison Mooney, Long Beach Playhouse Executive Director. “The story moves seamlessly between humor and pathos. For example, in a dreamlike sequence, we learn Matilde’s parents were the two funniest people in Brazil until they literally killed each other with laughter. The play is beautifully constructed from beginning to end.”

“This is our third production of Ruhl’s work,” said Sean Gray, Artistic Director for the Playhouse. “I knew casting would be critical to this show’s success. We needed strong actors who could inhabit the characters in all their complexity. And we needed a director who could bring it all together in a way that captured the nuances of the story. I had high expectations and all of them have been exceeded.”

The director is Meredith Miranda, a Filipino-American actor, director, and writer who is fluent in English, Tagalog, and Spanish. Miranda attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She appeared in the Studio Theatre production of The Revolutionists and on the Mainstage in Murder on the Orient Express. Most recently, she directed the staged reading of Finding Mr. Rightstein for this year’s New Works Festival.

The five-member cast includes Manuela Ferraz making her debut along with Playhouse veterans, Lisa J. Salas, Andrea Stradling, Noah Wagner, and Carmen Tunis.