“I’ve seen it all and I’ve cleaned it all” – Constance Turner
Cleaning in the House of Healing is 40-minute film that shines a light on the often overlooked and undervalued health care professionals who do the essential work of keeping hospitals clean and safe.
The film is based on the original Theatre of Witness production with six environmental service workers ‘cleaners’ who clean in hospitals. The performers have cleaned in hospital trauma bays, operating rooms, emergency departments and patient rooms. With dignity and poetry, they share their personal life stories as well as their experiences and emotions after cleaning in a hospital setting following trauma, violence, illness and care.
Cleaning in the House of Healing is particularly suited for health care students and professionals to learn about the lives of those who are often the least visible within the health care system – those who clean.
Directed by: Dax Roggio
Original production produced, written and directed by: Teya Sepinuck
Music by: Niyonu Spann
Lead support for Cleaning in the House of Healing is provided by the William Penn Foundation.
To book a Film Screening and/or Workshop: teya@theaterofwitness.org
Theater of Witness is excited to introduce you to Constance, Gloria, El-Shara, Jerome, Nicole, and Shamona – the performers in “Cleaning in the House of Healing.” All of them have been cleaning since they were young. They’ve been doing the invisible but essential work that most of us don’t want to see. Some of them grew up cleaning for elderly neighbors and family, others in stadiums, on city streets, and/or in hotels. They all became Environmental Service Workers (EVS) in hospitals where they have stories of cleaning in trauma bays, patient rooms, doctor’s offices, and emergency departments. As Constance Turner has said, “I’ve seen it all and I’ve cleaned it all”.
Photo by Raymond Holman
