CLEANSED

by Sarah Kane
directed by Lisa Rothschiller
AMERICAN PREMIERE
at The Viaduct
March 16 – April 26, 2001

After Dark Awards
Direction – Lisa Rothschiller
Outstanding Ensemble

“A contemporary night of the living dead.”
Chicago Sun-Times

“Everyone in this production, from the light designer to each of the actors, takes big risks. But the risks pay off in poetry.”
Newcity

How much are you willing to suffer for the sake of those you love?

Cleansed told the stories of a grieving sister, a compassionate ghost, a delicate mental patient, and a tortured gay couple. For each, love provided fierce blooms of hope in a world of control and unpunished cruelty. Cleansed was the legacy of a playwright who, though she took her own life, fearlessly gave voice to our most fragile desires. She knew that the institutional setting and vicious warden of this show were more than pieces of her life; they’re metaphors for all of ours.

With the return of the director of Kane’s earlier work, Phaedra’s Love, Defiant delivered a theatrical poem of brutal, unforgettable images. You may have been outraged. You may have been stunned. May you have been cleansed as well.