They are roommates who found something they didn’t even know they were looking for.
Such is the case for the characters in Jen Silverman’s “The Roommate,” the second ever production of the Elgin-based iambe theatre ensemble.
“I think they both have this undercurrent of needing to change, to transform. Doreen’s character says at one point ‘to burn everything down and to start over,'” ensemble co-founder Shannon Mayhall of Cary said. “Not literally, but figuratively speaking. I think they both come to realize that’s both what they want to do. Each of them brings this out in each other.”
The dramatic comedy, starring Mayhall as Robyn and ensemble co-founder Doreen Dawson of Geneva as Sharon, runs Oct. 21-Nov. 6 at Elgin Art Showcase in downtown Elgin.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. There is no show Oct. 22.
In the play, Sharon, who is in her mid-50s and recently divorced, is looking for someone to share her Iowa farmhouse. Robyn, who is also middle-aged but otherwise much different, moves in.
“She’s not a roommate from Iowa. She’s a roommate from Bronx, New York,” Director Sean Hargadon of Elgin said. “They’re very different.”
Through the course of the play, both characters go through a transformation of sorts.
“It’s about how a person can change with the support and help of another,” he said. “And the other person changes as well.”
Both Dawson and Mayhall said they were drawn to this show, which features roles for mature women and has more humor than the ensemble’s first production in 2021, the drama “Gidion’s Knot.”
“Our whole mission is really about providing high quality theater that focuses on honest, provocative sort of explorations of the human condition and particularly with an emphasis on women of all ages, since they are quite underrepresented in theater,” Dawson said. “And I do believe that this play really reflects our mission, just like ‘Gidion’s Knot’ did. But in a bit of a different way.”
Along with the drama and humor, the story has elements of mystery as well.
“Some people say it’s ‘Breaking Bad’ meets the ‘Odd Couple,'” Hargadon said. “I don’t know if it’s quite that, but it’s an interesting story about how these two women I guess you could say, help each other out throughout the 90 minutes of the play.”
While Dawson sees similarities to the Neil Simon comedy, there are differences, she said.
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“They are total opposites like ‘The Odd Couple,’ but the play kind of goes in directions that you … don’t think it’s going to go,” Dawson said. “And one of the characters has some really dark secrets that come out. So I think the audience will be surprised about some of the secrets in the past of one of the characters and how it affects the other character in a way you wouldn’t think it would.”
Mayhall, who has heard the play compared to “Thelma and Louise,” said she feels the show runs a little deeper than “The Odd Couple.”
“The characters are written so well on both of them that I think there’s more to them than Felix and Oscar,” Mayhall said.
“There’s danger there and mystery. These are so well written, these characters in this play. The story’s beautiful.”
Dawson and Mayhall, who have known each other since college, started iambe theatre ensemble in 2021 after noticing a significant lack of roles about and for middle-aged women. While working on their first show, they were joined by another college friend, Liz Recht Johnson of Riverside. Johnson is serving as assistant director of “The Roommate.”
In the future iambe plans to expand to two shows a year, likely in the spring and fall, and produce shows with larger casts while continuing its mission of representing the underrepresented, Mayhall and Dawson said.
“We don’t want to work exclusively with women of a certain age,'” Mayhall laughs. “We are willing to spread our wings a bit.”
So often though, audition notices call for women in their 20s-30s, Dawson said. Every once in a while there’s a role for a woman in her early 40s.
“But to see people in their 50s and up who the play is about (is rare),” Dawson said. “Because we still have a lot to say. And I think we need to see more of that on stage. Women need to see themselves on stage more and I think this play will really resonate with that demographic.”
‘The Roommate’
When: Oct. 21-Nov. 6
Where: Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., Elgin
Tickets: $22
Information: tinyurl.com/iambe
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.