Matilde, an earthy young Brazilian housekeeper, would rather be onstage delivering comic lines than wielding a feather duster for her employer, an uptight doctor named Lane. Along with her frustrations about her messy home, Lane discovers she’s about to lose her surgeon-husband to his 67-year old Argentinian breast cancer patient. Thrown into the mix are a loopy quest to find a healing yew tree in Alaska, an extended dirty joke told in Portuguese, and a sponge-wielding sister who finds scrubbing bathrooms therapeutic.

Offbeat humor, impromptu arias, wacky poetry and romance spice big themes of love and loss in Lean Ensemble Theater’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House. This whimsical comedy, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, is directed by Lean Ensemble Theater’s Blake White and features ensemble member Jenny Zmarzly along with Taylor Harvey, Karin de la Penha, Carolyn Popp, and Ryan K. Bailer.

The Clean House. Talkbacks with Lean Ensemble cast and crew following each performance. April 27-29 & May 4-6 at 7:30 PM. Sunday matinees April 30 & May 7 at 2 PM. Hilton Head Preparatory School Main Street Theatre, 3000 Main Street, Hilton Head Island. Tickets: $40 evening performances; $35 matinees; $15 students/active military. Group rates available. www.leanensemble.orgor call 843.715.6676.

Lean Ensemble Theater, Hilton Head Island’s newest professional theater company, invites first responders to be our guests asa thank you for service you provide to our community. Please contact us at 843.715.6676.

Above: Taylor Harvey as "Matilda"