RELEASE: January 6, 2005

SOUTH COAST REPERTORY PRESENTS THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF SARAH RUHL'S 'THE CLEAN HOUSE'

COSTA MESA, CA. -- Matilde, a Brazilian housekeeper, is keen to stretch her funny bone but can't muster any elbow grease for her domestic duties. Her employers' houses aren't in order and neither are their personal lives. In pursuit of the perfect joke, Matilde ignores the household dirt, only to be swept away by family affairs of the heart. Sarah Ruhl's seriously funny drama, The Clean House, makes its West Coast premiere at South Coast Repertory on January 28 and runs through February 27, 2005 on the Segerstrom Stage. Low-priced previews begin January 21.

"Simply put, The Clean House is about love but not as a far-flung, out of reach ideal. Sarah Ruhl writes of love as we actually experience it, together with the sublime mess that we make of our relationships," explains Kate Whoriskey, director of The Clean House.

The Clean House features Ivonne Coll, Mary Beth Fisher, Timothy Landfield, Mary Lou Rosato and Adriana Sevan. They assemble to tell an infectiously humorous and magically poignant tale of an emotionally sterile doctor, her surgeon-husband and his patient/lover. The triangle is stretched to include a sister who loves to keep house and a housekeeper who'd rather tell jokes in Portuguese.

The design team for The Clean House includes Rachel Hauck (sets), Joyce Kim Lee (costumes), Scott Zielinski (lights), Michael Bodeen and Rob Milburn (composers/sound), and Randy Duncan (choreography). Jennifer Kiger is the dramaturg and Jamie A. Tucker is the stage manager. Jean and Tim Weiss are Honorary Producers. KCRW 89.9 FM is the Media Partner.

Sarah Ruhl was awarded the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn for The Clean House, awarded to the best unproduced play written in English by a female playwright. Past recipients of the award include Paula Vogel, Caryl Churchill and Wendy Wasserstein. Ms. Ruhl's other plays include Melancholy Play, Late: a cowboy song, Orlando and Passion Play. In September her reinterpretation of the Greek myth, Eurydice, opened at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and The Clean House opened at Yale Repertory Theatre to much acclaim. Ms. Ruhl's plays have also been performed at the Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the 2002 Humana Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, the Children's Theatre Company, Brown University, Vassar College, and at the Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago. Originally from Chicago, she received her MFA from Brown University.

Kate Whoriskey returns to SCR, after having directed Antigone and the world premiere of Intimate Apparel. A recently named Associate Artist at SCR, Ms. Whoriskey's regional directing credits include The Rose Tattoo and the world premiere of Drowning Crow at The Goodman Theatre, The Master Builder at American Repertory Theatre, Lady from the Sea at Intiman Theatre and Desire Under the Elms at Perseverance Theatre. This year Ms. Whoriskey directed the world premiere of Lynn Nottage's Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons. She is a graduate of the NYU-Tisch School of the Arts and ART's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training and has served as a visiting professor at UC Davis.

Ivonne Coll (A Woman/Ana) previously appeared at SCR in the Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF) workshop of Illuminating Veronica, as well as the PPF reading of The Clean House. She received the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Performance by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for her work as 105-year-old Belen in José Rivera's Adorationof the Old Woman at La Jolla Playhouse. Other regional work includes the world premiere of Ten Tiny Love Stories at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre and the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz's Two Sisters and a Piano at McCarter Theatre. Her Broadway credits include Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Shakespeare on Broadway and Goodbye Fidel. This season's television credits include recurring roles on "American Family," "Joan of Arcadia," "Nip/Tuck" and "Skin." She has appeared in over a feature films including Godfather II. Ms. Coll is a private coach and acting teacher at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles.

Mary Beth Fisher (Lane) appeared at SCR previously in The Seagull. Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include Boy Gets Girl (Drama League Award for Outstanding Artist), The Night of the Iguana and Extremities (with Farrah Fawcett). Regional theatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest at the Court Theatre; The Dresser and The Memory of Water at Steppenwolf; Heartbreak House, Dinner with Friends, The Rose Tattoo, and many others at The Goodman Theatre; The Waverly Gallery at the Long Wharf Theatre; and The Merry Wives of Windsor, On the Verge and The Seagull at the Guthrie Theater. Film and television credits include Dragonfly, Trauma, "NYPD Blue," "Profiler," "To Have and to Hold," "Turks," "Early Edition," "One Life to Live" and "Guiding Light."

Timothy Landfield (A Man/ Charles) returns to SCR, where he was previously seen in A Christmas Carol; The Norman Conquests:Round and Round the Garden; and Hay Fever. He appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic, The Miser at A Noise Within and in the Broadway revivals of Company and The Sound of Music. He also appeared opposite Kandis Chappell in The Guardsman at the Huntington Theatre in Boston. Mr. Landfield appeared on Broadway in Rumors, The Crucifer of Blood, Tartuffe and others. Off-Broadway, he was in the original production of Sister Mary Ignatius and The Actor's Nightmare as well as the musical Charlotte Sweet. Television and film credits include "Six Feet Under," "Frasier," and "Law and Order" and The Cooler with William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin. Mr. Landfield is on the faculty at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood.

Mary Lou Rosato (Virginia) appeared at SCR previously in the NewSCRipts reading of Daedalus. She recently appeared in The Peach Blossom Fan at the REDCAT Theatre in Los Angles. She has appeared on Broadway numerous times and at many major regional theatres in the country including Yale Repertory Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, Seattle Repertory, The Old Globe, Williamstown Theatre Festival and the McCarter Theatre. In 1997, she played the Queen in the Broadway revival of Once Upon A Mattress and appeared in School For Scandal, for which she won a Drama Desk Award. Her film credits include Quiz Show, Hudsucker Proxy, The Wedding Banquet, Two Bits and Illuminata. Television credits include "Titus" and "Caroline in the City." Ms. Rosato is a founding member of The Acting Company and a member of the first graduating class of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School.

Adriana Sevan (Matilde) was last seen as Conchita in the West Coast Premiere of Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics at SCR and as Norca in the LA Theatre Works production of Our Lady of 121st Street. Other acting credits include Two Sisters and a Piano at SCR and The Public Theater, Derek Walcott's The Odyssey at Willow Cabin Theatre Company, Indian Ink at ACT, Henry V at Shakespeare & Co. and A Royal Affair at Intar. She has appeared in guest-starring roles on "Law & Order," "Sex & the City," "Deadline," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and recently won an award at The Denver International Film Festival for her portrayal of Priscilla in Patrice Johnson's critically acclaimed debut film, King's County. Ms. Sevan recently re-created the role of Conchita in Anna in the Tropics, directed by Nilo Cruz this fall at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami. Taking Off is her first full length play developed in the inaugural Latino Theater Initiative Women's Writing Retreat at the Mark Taper Forum.

INFORMATION

Tickets are $19 to $56 with discounts for students under 25 years of age, seniors and groups of 15 or more. SCR offers a "Pay What You Will" performance on Saturday, January 29, at 2:30 p.m. and an ASL interpreted performance for the deaf community on Saturday, February 26, at 2:30 p.m. A free post show discussion with cast members led by the SCR Literary Department will follow the performances on Wednesday, February 2 and Tuesday February 8. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. For tickets or more information call SCR's Ticket Services Department at (714) 708-5555 or visit South Coast Repertory online at www.scr.org. For group sales call Kelly Fullerton at (714) 708-5569.

To further explore The Clean House, before or after seeing the production, SCR offers "Inside the Season" on Saturday, February 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. hosted by Linda Sullivan Baity, Literary and Education Associate talking with cast members and designers. Open to everyone, this informal, in-depth discussion is $10; tickets may be purchased in advance or on the morning of the event at the SCR Box Office by calling (714) 708-5555 or online at www.scr.org.

South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Folino Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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