Sure, there must be a lot of 50-ish women living alone in houses in Iowa. Women like Sharon, who are divorced, her kids moved AWAY from Iowa, and she’s accumulated very little in the way of life experience, and doesn’t really know what to do with herself. She must imagine that everyone lives the way she does.
In the Actors Theatre play “The Roommate”, Sharon decides to get a roommate for the purpose of saving a little money. NOTE: there’s no mention of whether Robyn used Airbnb to find a roomie in Iowa). But Sharon gets a lot more than she bargained for, and learns a lot about how people outside her Iowa bubble live. Robyn, a pot-smoking vegan from New York, couldn’t be less like Sharon.
It makes for some entertaining moments, not the least of much is Sharon’s discovery of marijuana. The play is focused on Sharon’s determination to discover more about her mysterious roommates’ lifestyle, and how Robyn’s take on the world is so different than hers.
The playwright is Jen Silverman. Directed by Mike Donahue. Sharon is played by Margaret Daly; Robyn by Tasha Lawrence.
The Roommate is at Actors through April 12. Click for tickets.
