Traverse Theatre's 'A RESPECTABLE WIDOW' and CLEAN to Run at 59E59 Theaters, April 2-26

Traverse Theatre Company will be in New York this April, taking Fringe 2013 hits A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity and Clean for a month-long run at 59E59 Theaters, marking New York's Scotland Week (3 - 10 April) as part of 59E59 Theaters' Brits Off Broadway season.

In advance of their transfer to New York in April, the 5* review-winning pair will be presented as a double bill from 26 - 29 March on the Traverse stage.

As a double bill, A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity and Clean will be the Traverse Theatre Company's third transfer to New York in recent years, following David Harrower's Good With People, which debuted at 59E59 Theaters as part of Brits Off Broadway season and Scotland Week in March 2013, and David Greig's Midsummer (a play with songs) which kicked off Traverse Theatre Company's 50th year by playing at the Clurman Theatre in January 2013.

Linda Crooks, Executive Producer of Traverse Theatre Company commented: "Our invitation to 59E59 Theaters for the second year running is a testament to the quality of work Traverse Theatre Company produces year on year. With an international reputation for discovering and producing high calibre new writing talent, it is an honour to present our work to the New York audience."

Evolving from their breakfast beginnings as part of the popular Dream Play series in 2012 and the Breakfast Plays series in 2013, both plays were further developed and have received an outstanding response from audiences and critics.

Douglas Maxwell's A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity sees a wealthy widow strike up an unlikely friendship with her deceased husband's potty-mouthed employee.

On news of the transfer, Douglas Maxwell commented: "Ever since it was part of Dream Plays, A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity has surprised me constantly in the way it's been so well received. After proving so successful with Scottish audiences, it's a real joy to see it head to New York. It'll be a wee joy to see how Joanna Tope delivering brilliantly strong language goes down with an American audience!"

Clean, by London-based performance poet Sabrina Mahfouz, tells the story of three fast-talking, no-nonsense female heroines who rule the roost in the capital's criminal underworld.

Sabrina Mahfouz commented: "The cast of Clean have a wonderful way of delivering the words that originated as a 48-hour challenge back in 2012 - I can't wait to see them in action again. Clean going to New York is such a dream, I love the energy of the city and I certainly plan to see as many plays as I can whilst I'm there."

Linda Crooks continued: "Working with the brilliant new writing talents of Douglas Maxwell and Sabrina Mahfouz is at the very heart of the Traverse Theatre. Respectable Widow and Clean have an incredibly strong team behind each production, including our award-winning artistic director, Orla O'Loughlin, and assistant directors Bella Loudon in Scotland and Emily Reutlinger in New York City."

Traverse Theatre Company: Double Bill

A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity by Douglas Maxwell
Clean by Sabrina Mahfouz
Directed by Orla O'Loughlin

Dates: Wed 02 April - Sat 26 April (no performance on Mondays)

Now in its 10th season, Brits Off Broadway is 59E59 Theaters' annual festival of New British Theatre in New York, running from April 1 - June 29, 2014. Scotland Week is a week-long celebration of Scotland in the USA and Canada from 3 - 10 April.

Running time: Each play is 45 minutes with a 15 minute intermission in between

Orla O'Loughlin (Traverse Artistic Director) - Orla is Artistic Director of the Traverse Theatre. Prior to taking up post at the Traverse, she was Artistic Director of the award-winning Pentabus Theatre and International Associate at the Royal Court Theatre.

Directing work for the Traverse includes the Scotsman Fringe First and Herald Angel award-winning Ciara, Clean, A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity, Fifty Plays for Edinburgh, The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society, The Artist Man and the Mother Woman, and the Herald Angel award-winning Dream Plays (Scenes from a play I'll Never Write). Other directing work includes: For Once (Hampstead Theatre Studio, National Tour); Kebab (Dublin International Festival/ Royal Court Theatre); How Much is your Iron? (Young Vic); The Hound of the Baskervilles (West Yorkshire Playhouse/ National Tour/ West End); Tales of the Country, Origins (Pleasance/ Theatre Severn); Relatively Speaking, Blithe Spirit, Black Comedy (Watermill Theatre); Small Talk: Big Picture (BBC World Service/ ICA/ Royal Court Theatre); A Dulditch Angel (National Tour) and The Fire Raisers, sob stories, Refrain (BAC).

Douglas Maxwell: (A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity) - Douglas Maxwell has been one of the most popular and performed playwrights in the Scotland for over a decade. A Respectable Widow Takes To Vulgarity is his latest play.

His previous work includes the multi-award winning Decky Does a Bronco (which The Scotsman called "one of the finest plays to emerge from a Scottish working-class story in the last ten years") and The Promise, which played 59E59 in New York in 2011, winning the actress Joanna Tope a nomination for a Drama Desk Award.

His many plays are published by Oberon books, including a collection of his work for young people. This collection includes Decky Does a Bronco, Mancub, The Mother Ship, Helmet and Too Fast. The Mother Ship won the Brian Way Award for Best Play For Younger People in the UK in 2009.

Sabrina Mahfouz: (Clean) - Sabrina is a poet, playwright and performer. She is currently the recipient of a Sky Arts Futures Fund Award for poetry; an Associate Artist at the Bush Theatre, London; Poet in Residence at Cape Farewell - a climate change and arts organisation supported by the Science Museum; a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum and a Writer at Liberty for the civil rights charity, Liberty. Her first collection of plays and poems will be published by Bloomsbury imprint, Methuen in Spring 2014.

Previous theatre includes: That Boy (Westminster Prize 2010); End of the Line (IdeasTap Group Award 2010); Dry Ice (The Stage Award Best Solo Show nomination 2011); One Hour Only (Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Underbelly Award).

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