Something Clean by Selina Fillinger

Starring Kathryn Erbe, Daniel Jenkins, and Christopher Livingston

Scenic Design by Reid Thompson

Costume Design by Valérie Thérèse Bart

Lighting Design by Jiyoun Chang

Sound Design and Composition by Palmer Hefferan

Production Stage Manager: Kristi Hess

All photos taken by Polk & Co. for the Roundabout Underground 2019 production.

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NYT’s Critic’s Pick

Review: A Sex Crime Disarranges a Tidy World in ‘Something Clean’

“A splendid Kathryn Erbe plays a sheltered housewife thrown into limbo in Selina Fillinger’s thoughtful, poignant new play.

A deep and ineradicable stain is spreading over the seemingly spotless life of the woman at the center of “Something Clean,” a beautifully observed, richly compassionate new drama by the young playwright Selina Fillinger. It is not a blot that’s susceptible to the kind of scrubbing and tidying of which Charlotte Walker is a master.

Portrayed by a first-rate Kathryn Erbe, in a performance as delicate as it is heartfelt, Charlotte is the sort of woman who always packs rubber gloves and sanitary wipes in her purse. A white, upper-middle-class, middle-aged housewife, she is not a type that has shown up much in American theater lately, except in annoying supporting roles.

Nor is “Something Clean” — which opened on Wednesday in a Roundabout Underground production, sensitively directed by Margot Bordelon — a work you might expect from a rising American dramatist in her mid-20s.” 

-      Ben Brantley, The New York Times

“Starting with a premise loosely based on the Brock Turner case—a college athlete has received a light sentence for sexually assaulting a young woman outside a frat party, generating enormous public attention and outrage—Selina Fillinger’s engrossing and highly efficient new drama proceeds to imagine the inner life of the perpetrator’s mother while he’s in prison… The performances, as directed by Margot Bordelon for Roundabout, are remarkably complex and authentic, and the moments of natural humor are a testament to this play's deeply humane vision.”

-      Rollo Romig, The New Yorker

“Selina Fillinger's drama concerns the emotional aftermath of a sexual assault. The play neither deals with the perpetrator nor the survivor; the latter, we learn early on, is the preferred term rather than "victim." Nonetheless, the crime does have its victims, in the form of the aggressor's anguished parents. Their grief, and their guilt, form the heart of the deeply affecting Something Clean, world-premiering at off-Broadway's Roundabout Underground.

Under the sensitive direction of Margot Bordelon, the actors deliver nuanced performances that fully convey their characters' angst without over-emoting. Erbe is quietly touching as the guilt-ridden Charlotte; Jenkins hits every note perfectly as the husband/father repressing his feelings; and Livingston oozes charisma as the outgoing but still traumatized Joey.” 

-      Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter

“An exploration of the ripple effects of rape culture, Something Clean deals with the aftermath of a sex crime, but we never meet the perpetrator or the survivor. Selina Fillinger's shattering one-act unfolds in a series of swift two-person scenes. The luminous Kathryn Erbe plays Charlotte, the upper-class suburban mom of a Brock Turner–like college athlete whose paltry six-month sentence for sexual assault sparks national outrage. On her tortuous journey of self-discovery, Charlotte bonds with Joey (the excellent Christopher Livingston)—the young, black gay man who runs the sexual-assault prevention center where she becomes a volunteer—and retreats from her husband, Doug (Daniel Jenkins), a workaholic who refuses to face their new reality.

Working in an unnervingly intimate space, director Margot Bordelon elicits spot-on performances from all three members of the cast.”

Four stars; Recommended

-      Raven Snook, Time Out New York

“At times, this actress’s wholesome prettiness and unmannered authenticity have made it difficult to fully appreciate the soulful ferocity of her work, but not here; working in the tiny confines of the Black Box Theatre, under Margot Bordelon’s vigorous direction, Erbe shows us the weight of her character’s guilt and frustration, her anger and self-doubt. There’s a devastating moment towards the end, where Doug demands to know the state of their relationship in the plainest terms, and Erbe stands there for what feels like an eternity, eyes burning and throat twitching, before responding.”

-      Elysa Gardner, New York Stage Review

“There’s plenty to think about here, facts and statistics well collated by the playwright and expansively directed in a concise space by Margot Bordelon. The cast is terrific, but Erbe invests a special blend of awareness and sensitivity in the role of Charlotte that makes even the pain in this excellent play more tolerable than I thought possible. 

How fortunate we are that Erbe, best known for years as a detective on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, returns to the stage from time to time to enrich the New York theater scene. In Something Clean, she does some of the strongest and most memorable work of her career. As for the author, Fillinger is a brave, commanding new presence—a young American dramatist worth keeping an eye on in the future, and deserving of praise already.”

-      Rex Reed, New York Observer