Ruhl's The Clean House Begins Previews, October 5

The Clean House, a new play by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Bill Rauch, begins preview performances on Thursday, October 5 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.   The comedy  features Vanessa Aspillaga, Blair Brown, Jill Clayburgh, John Dossett and Concetta Tomei.  Opening night for this Lincoln Center Theater production is Monday, October 30, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

In The Clean House, Lane, a high-powered doctor (Blair Brown), seems to have it all – except for a clean house.  Her housekeeper, a young Brazilian woman (Vanessa Aspillaga) who hates to clean is only interested in coming up with the world's funniest joke.   When a crisis strikes without warning, Lane's life spins out of control.  John Dossett plays Lane's husband; Jill Clayburgh her sister, and Concetta Tomei, a free spirit named Ana.

Sets are by Christopher Acebo, costumes by Shigeru Yaji, lighting by James F. Ingalls, original music and sound by André Pluess and choreography by Sabrina Peck.  

Sarah Ruhl was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.  She also  won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Clean House, which premiered at New Haven's Yale Repertory Theatre before being produced at theaters across the country.  Her other plays include Melancholy Play, Eurydice, Late: A Cowboy Song and Passion Play.  This Lincoln Center Theater's production marks the playwright's New York debut.

Bill Rauch directed the Yale Rep production of The Clean House.  Co-founder and Artistic Director of Los Angeles' Cornerstone Theater Company, he has also directed at many of the country's regional theatres including the Mark Taper Forum, the Guthrie Theater, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the South Coast Repertory, the Arena Stage and the Long Wharf  Theatre.

This fall, Lincoln Center Theater will also present the American premiere of Tom Stoppard's three-part play, The Coast of Utopia? directed by Jack O'Brien, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater beginning performances October 17. 

Visit www.lincolncenter.org for more information.