A CLEAN BRUSH Has World Premiere at Theatre 40 Next Month

Norm Foster has been called "the Neil Simon of Canada." The remarkably prolific author of 54 plays (with more on the way) is Canada's most popular and successful playwright. He's Theatre 40's favorite playwright, too. His new play will be the sixth that we've produced. The king of Canadian comedy is letting us produce the World Premiere engagement of A Clean Brush.

A Clean Brush tells the story of two house painters, Dick and Mello, who land a job painting a room in the basement of recently-widowed Zoe Craig's home. Zoe's husband died in the room when he 'accidentally' fell into a stand of fireplace implements and suffered a severe head trauma, and now Zoe is looking to turn the room into a rental cash cow. The house painters think this is just another job until Zoe's nosy neighbor stops by and plants doubt in the painter's minds as to what really happened to the Widow Craig's clumsy spouse. Complicating matters, Mello falls for the gorgeous Zoe. But are Mello and Dick being asked to cover up a murder?

Howard Storm directs. An A-list stand-up comedian, he left the comedy club circuit to direct television comedy, including Mork & Mindy (58 episodes), Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley, Taxi, Major Dad, Alf, Gimme a Break, Everybody Loves Raymond. He also directed Jim Carrey's feature film debut Once Bitten. On stage, Howard was a member of the famed troupe The Committee and teamed up with the late Pat Harrington Jr. in jimmy and Sam (at Theatre 40) and in Harrington & Storm. One of Theatre 40's resident directors, Howard directed Norm Foster's Reservations for Six.

Howard's cast for A Clean Brush includes Mandy Fason (who was in our summer production of The Metromaniacs), Susan Priver (fresh from her triumph starring in the critically-acclaimed indie hit thriller Night Caller), Michael Kerr and James Lemire.

Assistant director: Patricia Storm. Set design: Jeff G. Rack. Costume design: Michèle Young. Lighting design: Derrick McDaniel. Sound design: Nick Foran. Properties: Don Solosan.

Fans of Norm Foster's plays know that they will come to the theatre prepared to laugh. Hi-jinks and hilarity will ensue.

WHAT: A Clean Brush. World Premiere engagement of a new comedy.

WHO: Written by Norm Foster. Directed by Howard Storm. Produced for Theatre 40 by David Hunt Stafford.

WHERE: Theatre 40, in the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. The venue is on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. Free parking is available in the parking lot beneath the theatre. To access parking, enter through the driveway at the intersection of Durant and Moreno Drives.

WHEN: September 22- October 23, 2022. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

ADMISSION: $35.

RESERVATIONS: (310) 364-0535.

ONLINE TICKETING: https://theatre40.org

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