STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
They’re two mismatched middle-aged women. One is a milk-and-cookies-type housewife from Iowa City who is being forced to reevaluate her life after her divorce. The other is a pot smoking, vegetarian lesbian from the Bronx who answers the Iowa woman’s ad for a roommate with a box of clay voodoo dolls in hand.
The woman from the Bronx is looking for a fresh start, but that may be difficult to find given that her new landlord is nosy and persistent, bent on discovering her secrets.
Their encounter and the quirky twists and turns that follow are the fodder for Jen Silverman’s “The Roommate.” And two of the valley’s most beloved actors—Denise Simone and Claudia McCain—will share it in a play reading at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, at The Spot at 220 Lewis St. in Ketchum.
The free play reading is being produced by Sawtooth Productions and Laughing Stock Theatre. Doors will open at 6:15, with limited seating available. Complimentary wine and cookies will be served.
“It’s not like ‘The Odd Couple,’ but it’s a take on an odd couple who couldn’t be more mismatched,” said Director Jon Kane, of Sawtooth Productions. “And to have these two beloved actors together in a comedy is a super coup for me as a producer .”
The play is very humorous, said Claudia McCain, who has appeared in numerous plays with Company of Fools and Laughing Stock Theatre over the years.
“My character is an Iowa housewife who has led a sheltered life, hasn’t experienced a lot of the world. And, when her roommate moves in, her world and her thoughts are instantly expanded. It’s great to have a play that features two middle-aged women trying to figure themselves out for extremely different reasons. It has quirky fun twists in it. Humor, poignancy juxtaposed within the characters.”
The playwright Jen Silverman, is based in New York. Her works include “The Moors,” “All the Roads Home,” “A Play in 5 Betties” and “Phoebe in Winter.”
“Silverman is a really wonderful playwright. And this is a wonderful, incredibly entertaining play,” said Kane. “The focus of these play readings over the last 20 years has been on the text, and the bonus of this reading is that I have two of the most popular actors in the valley reading it.”
“The Roommate” not only explores the relationship between females and friends but female empowerment, personal transformation and life transitions.
“It’s about how you perceive yourself later in life. Do you look at life in terms of aging physically? Or aging mentally and spiritually?” said Kane.
McCain and Simone serve on the board of Kane’s Sun Valley Playwright Residency, which offers playwrights two months at the Hemingway House in Ketchum and money to create original work.
“I’m thrilled to get to do this with Denise—we haven’t worked together for a while,” said McCain.