Vickie Montgomery - Lane     Joy Groves - Virginia      Julie Scott - Matilde       Dennis Priest - Charles

Anja Homberg - Ana       Lorrie Brandon - Waiter

Lane , a high-powered doctor in her 50’s, hires a Brazilian, Matilde , to clean the house she shares with her husband, also a doctor. Matilde is depressed from the recent deaths of her parents, who she describes as the funniest people in Brazil. Her mother died laughing from a joke her father told; afterward he shot himself. So Matilde came to America to clean houses. As it turns out, she doesn't like to clean. But Lane's sister, Virginia , loves to. So Virginia cleans, Matilde thinks up jokes, and together they find out, via a pair of sexy black panties among the newly washed clothes, that Lane's husband Charles is cheating on her. Yet a play that looks to be venturing into classic sitcom territory ends up challenging stereotypes. Out of this situation come unexpected alliances, revelations about the past, dirty jokes told in Portuguese, and some wacky behavior driven by extreme love. And despite its frank dealing with cancer and adultery, the play is not about either. Ruhl, a recently named MacArthur Foundation Fellow , is a powerful emerging voice. "The Clean House" won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama the following year.