Aspillaga, Brown, Clayburgh, Dossett, Tomei Set for Lincoln Center’s The Clean House

Vanessa Aspillaga, Blair Brown, Jill Clayburgh, John Dossett, and Concetta Tomei will star in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House, scheduled to begin performances at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre on October 5 and to open officially on October 30.

The play concerns Lane (Brown), a high powered-doctor who hires Matilde (Aspillaga), a young Brazilian woman who hates to clean, as her housekeeper. Eventually, Lane’s sister Virginia (Clayburgh) takes on the job, and Matilde concentrates on her true ambition: crafting the world’s most perfect joke. Meanwhile, Lane’s husband, Charles (Dossett), leaves her for Anna (Tomei), a free-spirited older woman.

The Lincoln Center production will be directed by Bill Rauch; it will feature sets by Christopher Acebo, costumes by Shigeru Yaji, lighting by James F. Ingalls, and original music and sound by André Pluess.

Ruhl won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Clean House; the play debuted at Yale Repertory Theatre, where it was directed by Rauch. Ruhl’s other works include Passion Play, which premiered last season at Arena Stage, and Eurydice, which will be seen in September at Yale Rep.

Aspillaga’s New York credits include The Cataract and the Broadway production of Anna in the Tropics. Brown won a Tony Award for Copenhagen; she was last seen at Lincoln Center in Arcadia. Clayburgh has starred in New York productions of three plays in the past year: A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Barefoot in the Park, and The Busy World is Hushed. Dossett received a Tony nomination for Gypsy and has also appeared on Broadway in Mamma Mia!, Dinner at Eight, Democracy, and The Constant Wife. Tomei’s New York stage credits include The Elephant Man and The Normal Heart; she is best known for her television work on China Beach and Providence.