something clean
by Selina Fillinger
Directed by Lauren Shouse
A co-production with Sideshow Theatre
Featuring ensemble member Mary Cross
June 16 – July 21, 2019
New York Times Critic's Pick!
"Simply splendid... a beautifully observed, richly compassionate new drama."
Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens
2433 N Lincoln Avenue
Charlotte has been a mother for nineteen years, a wife for three decades and a respectable community member her entire life. But when her son is incarcerated for sexual assault, Charlotte is forced to reckon with a brand new identity, both public and private. On the heels of its off-Broadway premiere, Selina Fillinger’s breathtaking new drama slips into the jagged cracks of a sex crime’s aftermath - as a mother struggles to make sense of her own grief, intimacy, and culpability.
Something Clean was commissioned and developed by Sideshow Theatre Company and will open at Sideshow following its upcoming world premiere at Roundabout Theatre Company, New York City, in spring 2019.
Approximate run time: 80 minutes, without intermission
REVIEWS
★★★
Critic's Pick! "Fillinger is a significant talent... Shouse’s production is both artful and emotionally resonant."
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
Mary Cross (Charlotte) Mary is a founding member of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. After spending about 10 years living in NYC, she returned to Chicago where she fell back in with her Rivendell family. After performing the role of Meg in Rivendell’s original production of WRENS (Joseph Jefferson award winner for Best Ensemble and Best New Work), she was thrilled to portray Gwyneth in the 2012 remount of WRENS (Jeff nomination for Best Ensemble). She was nominated for a Jeff award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Ruth O’Hare in A Mislaid Heaven with Chicago’s Famous Door Theatre Company. Some of the shows Mary appeared in while living in NYC are; Ross Mueller’s Pinter’s Explanation, Courtney Baron’s Not Our Last Hurrah, Trista Baldwin’s Terra Australis Incognito, Beau Willimon’s The Patient and Blair Singer’s Meg’s New Friend. She is the female lead in the indie feature film Fools, which is available on Amazon Prime. She has also been on Chicago Fire as well as playing the role of Mrs. Renzulli in the web series Other People’s Children.
Guy Massey (Doug) Guy Massey last appeared at Rivendell in These Shining Lives. Other Chicago credits include An Enemy of the People, Blind Date, the 2013 and 2014 productions of Smokefall and the New Stages Festival production of Blue Skies Process at The Goodman Theatre, Failure: A Love Story at Victory Gardens Theater, Tigers Be Still at Theater Wit, Of Mice and Men at Steppenwolf for Young Adults, Louis Slotin Sonata at A Red Orchid Theatre, Jon with Collaboraction and The Strangerer with Theater Oobleck. He also appeared in Death of a Salesman at Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Film and television credits include Chicago Med, The Chi, At Any Price, Contagion, Fred Claus, The Promotion, Stranger Than Fiction, Chicago P.D., Boss, The Mob Doctor, Shameless, The Chicago Code and The Beast.
Patrick Agada (Joey) Patrick is excited to be working with Rivendell Theatre for the first time and returning to Sideshow where he was last seen in YOU FOR ME FOR YOU. Patrick just finished working on Dutch Masters with Jackalope and has previously worked with, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Raven, and Chicago Children’s theatre. He also had the opportunity to train and perform with the Blue Man Group in New York. Screen credits: Chicago Fire (NBC). Thanks to his family and friends for their support.
Staff
Selina Fillinger (Playwright)
Selina Fillinger is an LA-based actress and writer. She is a recent graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied playwriting under the instruction of Laura Schellhardt. Something Clean was commissioned for Sideshow Theatre’s Freshness Initiative and workshopped in Roundabout’s Underground Reading Series. Other work includes Faceless (Northlight Theatre premiere, Joseph Jefferson Award-nominated, regional productions at Zeitgeist Theatre, St. Louis Repertory Theatre and Park Theatre in London) and The Armor Plays: Cinched/Strapped (Available Light’s Next Stage Initiative, Alley All New, upcoming production at Theatre Three.) Selina is a 2018 recipient of South Coast Repertory’s Elizabeth George Commission and Manhattan Theatre Club’s Sloan Commission.
Lauren Shouse (Director)
Lauren Shouse is thrilled to return to Rivendell after directing The Cake and Sideshow after the Freshness Initiative reading of Something Clean. Lauren is the associate artistic director at Northlight Theatre and a Jeff-nominated director. Her recent directing credits include: What We're Up Against with Compass Theatre, The Legend of Georgia McBride at Northlight Theatre, Nice Girl and Betrayal at Raven Theatre; Avenue Q, Rapture, Blister, Burn, Superior Donuts, and A Christmas Story at Nashville Repertory Theatre, Long Way Down with 3Ps productions; Religion and Rubber Ducks with Ovvio Arte; Parallel Lives, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Last Five Years and Chess in Concert with Street Theatre Company; Rear Widow at Chaffin's Barn Theatre, and Sylvia Plath’s 3 Women. She received her MFA in theatre directing at Northwestern University where she directed Stop Kiss, Eurydice and In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. In Chicago, Lauren has also worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Route 66, The Gift, Chicago Dramatists, and Stage Left Theatre.
Production Team
Casie Morell (Stage Manager)
Casie Morell is excited to join the SM team for this production of Something Clean. Most recently she has worked at 16th Street Theatre and the Mercury Theater. A proud Nashville native, Casie has also worked at Chicago Children’s Theatre, First Folio, Drury Lane, Theatre at the Center, Marriott Lincolnshire, Porchlight, Music Theatre Works, and with Northwestern Opera. She has also worked regionally at the Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville, TN, The Weidner Center in Green Bay WI, and Peninsula Players Theater. Thanks to the folks at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and Sideshow for this opportunity!
Arnel Sancianco (Scenic Design)
Arnel Sancianco makes his Sideshow Theatre debut with Something Clean. He has designed all around the United States and has received an Equity Jeff nomination for scenic design. Credits include Twelfth Night (American Players Theatre); Put Your House in Order (La Jolla Playhouse); Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre); Landladies, Into the Breeches (Northlight Theatre); The All Night Strut (Milwaukee Rep); Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Raven); Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt, Empower (Lyric Unlimited); The Cake (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble); Master Class, Boy (Timeline); Photograph 51, The Belle of Amherst (Court); We Are Proud to Present, The Crucible (Steppenwolf); The Wiz, Little Fish (Kokandy); Hangman, Pilgrims (The Gift); Hookman, Earthquakes in London (Steep); Peerless (First Floor); The Total Bent, The Displaced, How We Got On (Haven); You on The Moors Now (The Hypocrites); Carousel, Titanic, Rock of Ages (Timberlake Playhouse); and Xanadu (American Theatre Co.)
Noël Huntzinger (Costume Design)
Noël Huntzinger is a Sideshow artistic associate and has been working with the company since 2012. Favorite spots she has designed include Goodman Theatre, Chicago Lyric Opera Unlimited, Boise Contemporary Theatre, Filament Theatre, About Face Theatre, Pride Arts Theatre, Interrobang Theatre Ensemble, A-Squared, Muse of Fire, Shattered Globe Theatre, and Collective Theatre Ensemble. Noël is a design advisor at The DePaul Theatre School. In addition to theater, she has designed pieces for choreographers Ginny Sykes, Wendy Clinard, the George Balanchine Trust, and the Antony Tudor Trust. Film design credits include Olympia and Cliff. Noël is a graduate of Oklahoma University.
Diane D. Fairchild (Lighting Design)
Diane D. Fairchild's recent designs include Grizzly Mama, Body/Courage, Look, we are breathing (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble), No More Sad Things (Sideshow); Off-Broadway: Where Did We Sit on the Bus? (EST); Regional: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry IV (Parts 1 & 2), Hamlet, Cymbeline (Michigan Shakespeare Festival), ...Bus? (City Theatre, Boise Contemporary Theater), Logan Festival 2018 (1st Stage Spring Hill); Chicago: Emma, Anna Karenina, A Tale of Two Cities (Lifeline, ensemble), Sentimental Journey, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Citadel), You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Pride and Prejudice (Wheaton College), The Abuelas, American Jornolero, The Wolf at the End of the Block (Teatro Vista), Electricidad (UIC), and Mies Julie, Roz + Ray (Victory Gardens).
Eric Backus (Sound Design)
Eric Backus is excited to work with Sideshow and Rivendell Theatre for the first time! Regional credits include Mark Twain’s River of Song and The All Night Strut (Milwaukee Rep.), and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (TheatreSquared). Recent Chicago credits include This Bitter Earth, Bull in a China Shop (About Face Theatre), Nice Girl, The Assembled Parties (Raven Theatre), and Anna Karenina, A Wrinkle in Time (Lifeline Theatre). Eric also designed the Off-Broadway, Chicago, and touring productions of SoloChicago Theatre’s Churchill and the Chicago and LA productions of Thrones! A Musical Parody.
Jonathan Berg-Einhorn (Props Design)
Jonathan Berg-Einhorn is a Chicago based designer and artisan. Jonathan has previously worked with companies such as Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Paramount Theatre, and Lookingglass Theatre. Scenic design: Alice in Wonderland, The ARC Trials (Mudlark Theatre); Curious George: The Golden Meatball (Hope Summer Repertory Theater); Brooke Astor’s Last Affair (Chicago Musical Theatre Festival); The Seven Deadly Sins, Endgame (Boston University). Properties design: Haymarket (Underscore Theatre); Scientific Method, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble); The Ridiculous Darkness, HeLa (Sideshow Theatre); Johnny 10 Beers’ Daughter (Something Marvelous); Bomber’s Moon (William Street Rep); I Know My Own Heart (Pride Films and Plays). Jonathan holds a BFA in scenic and costume design from Boston University.
Jennifer Aparicio (Production Manager)
Jennifer is excited to be working with the folks at Sideshow and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. She is the resident production manager with Teatro Vista and has also worked with Oak Park Festival Theatre, Broken Nose, Sideshow, Pegasus Players, and 16th Street Theater. Jennifer is also an Equity stage manager and has worked with Oak Park Festival Theatre (I & You), The New Colony (Fun Harmless Warmachine), and several productions at 16th Street Theater. She recently completed a West Coast tour, stage managing Lifeline Theatre’s The One and Only Ivan. Jennifer is an artistic associate with Teatro Vista and 16th Street Theater.
Gina M. DiSalvo (Dramaturg)
Gina M. DiSalvo, an artistic associate of Sideshow, is thrilled to be working with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble for the first time. With Sideshow she has dramaturged Caught, The Burden of Not Having a Tail, The Ugly One, and Theories of the Sun. She has also worked on Mine (The Gift), The Petrified Forest (Strawdog), and The Dream of the Burning Boy (The Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville). She is assistant professor of theatre history and dramaturgy at the University of Tennessee. For Jeffrey, who keeps the dream alive.
Harrison Ornelas (Technical Director)
Harrison Ornelas was born and raised in Chicago. After graduating from Columbia College in 2015, Harrison has been technical directing for theatre all over the city including Akvavit, Redtwist Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Silk Road Rising, A Red Orchid, UrbanTheater, Red Tape Theatre, Theater Wit and served as on staff TD for the past two summers at Theater on the Lake. Harrison is thrilled to be working with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and Sideshow for the first time. Harrison is always looking for his next creative challenge wherever his skills are neede
Kristen Osborn (Assistant Director)
Kristen Osborn is the artistic associate and outreach coordinator at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, and the literary manager and casting associate at Northlight Theatre. Directing credits include Wendy-Marie Martin's Those Eyes Who Saw Death, Eugene O’Neill’s Fog, JoyistLA’s First Embrace, and an original adaptation of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, Lift. Assistant directing credits include The Cake (dir. Lauren Shouse, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble), Henry IV, (dir. Daniel Sullivan, Shakespeare Center LA), The Scene (dir. Kimberly Senior, Writers Theatre), Choir Boy (dir. Trip Cullman, Geffen Playhouse). She is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and has previously served as an artistic associate at the Ojai Playwrights Conference.
Tara Mallen (Rivendell Artistic Director / Producer) is an actor, director, and the Producing Artistic Director at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. She is the 2017 3Arts William Franklin Grisham Awardee and the 2014 Volunteers of America Silver Star Awardee. Most recently Mallen was seen onstage in The Cake for which she won the 2018 Jeff Award for Performer in a Principal Role. In 2016 she performed in the world premiere production of Lynn Nottage’s Sweat at Arena Stage. Prior to that she was in Rivendell’s Jeff nominated world premiere productions of Look, we are breathing and Rasheeda Speaking. Tara appeared in Steppenwolf’s How Long Will I Cry: Stories of Youth Violence written by Chicago Journalist Miles Harvey. She was part of the ensemble in Rivendell’s world premiere, Jeff nominated production of The Walls and played Jolene Palmer (inspired by the true-life story of Aileen Wuornos) in Rivendell’s award winning production of Self Defense, or the Death of Some Salesmen—both productions part of Steppenwolf’s Visiting Theater Initiative. For Rivendell, Tara has produced and acted in over twenty-five productions. She received a Joseph Jefferson Award for Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Gwenyth in WRENS as part of that production’s Jeff-winning ensemble. She was nominated the following year for Actress in a Principal Role for her work in My Simple City. Her screen credits include Steven Soderbergh’s film Contagion opposite Kate Winslet, the Starz series Boss starring Kelsey Grammer, the NBC pilot of Chicago Fire, the CBS/Sony Pictures pilot Doubt, the NBC series Chicago P.D. and the Netflix series Sense8 directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski. With Rivendell, Tara conceived and directed the world premiere of WOMEN AT WAR, directed the Jeff nominated Midwest premieres of The Electric Baby, 26 Miles (co-production with Teatro Vista); Fighting Words; Psalms of a Questionable Nature; the co-production of Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue with Stageworks/Hudson in Hudson, NY; and the brief and brilliant Shady Meadows by Lisa Dillman as part of the 2007 Chicago Humanities Festival.
Jackie Banks-Mahlum (Rivendell Managing Director / Producer) is an arts manager, producer, and educator based in Chicago. Jackie is also the Membership and Development Associate at Arts Alliance Illinois, and the Co-Producer for Theatricum Botanicum. Previously Jackie was in the Los Angeles area where she worked with Center Theatre Group’s P.L.A.Y., the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Theatricum Botanicum. She has also freelanced regionally where she has had the opportunity to work in a variety of performing arts including opera, ballet, modern dance, improv, and theatre. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, has a Bachelor of Science in Theatre Production and Business Management from Bradley University, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Producing from the California Institute of the Arts.