By Jason and Alisha Hagey
Hailed by The New York Times as one of “42 Plays to See This Fall,” Salt Lake Acting Company’s production of The Roommate proves itself more than worthy of that spotlight. SLAC’s staging is a story of midlife crises reimagined; not as collapse, but as opportunity. The result is theater at its most alive: brimming with wit, teetering on the edge of risk, and reminding us all that growth is never bound by age. What would it take for you to begin again?
Jen Silverman’s (Playwright) The Roommate masquerades as a modest domestic comedy before revealing itself as a dark fable about renewal and appetite. Sharon, a recently divorced Midwesterner marooned in the polite, quiet atmosphere of Iowa City, takes in Robyn, a worldly New Yorker with a shadowy past. What begins as an “odd couple” arrangement dissolves once Sharon discovers Robyn’s history. But instead of recoiling, Sharon thrills at the possibility; her loneliness transfigures into hunger. What follows is the dangerous seduction of becoming someone new when it feels almost too late.
With the assurance of a seasoned storyteller, Teresa Sanderson (Director) guides with remarkable clarity and restraint. She renders Silverman’s barbed wit as lived-in dialogue. The staging is natural. Personalities collide, intertwine, and metamorphose. What emerges is not mere repartee. Their interactions evolve with the uneasy intimacy that comes with time spent together.
Onstage, the play belongs to its two women, and both actresses deliver performances that shimmer with honesty, intelligence, and a fierce emotional generosity. Together, their chemistry crackles.
Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin (Sharon) delivers a performance of radiant vulnerability. Every hesitation trembles with longing and bewildered hope. What might have been caricature is a layered portrait of a woman slipping into reinvention. Darby-Duffin’s physicality speaks as meaningfully as her lines.
Opposite her, Annette Wright (Robyn) commands the stage with mystery and seasoned resilience. Her sly humor and unspoken knowledge intrigue most. Wright portrays Robyn as a woman who is defined by her experiences but refuses to let them limit her. Her slightest look or impish smile says a thousand words. It’s a performance that skillfully balances danger and compassion.
In concert, Spencer Potter (Set Designer) and Jessica Graham (Props Designer) do more than sketch the outline of Sharon’s home: they create a home with the quiet weight of memory and routine. The furniture bears the marks of use, the simple palette suggests both safety and stagnation, and every carefully chosen object feels tethered to Sharon’s past as much as her present.
Jesse Portillo (Lighting Designer) extends this realism with an almost imperceptible tact. Daylight sifts through like hesitation, evenings settle with a heaviness that matches Sharon’s internal landscape. And Cynthia L. Kehr Rees (Sound Designer) rounds out the sensory environment with music and voice recordings that emerge as signals of longing, regret, and possibility.
When combined, these components produce more than just a background; they also form a psychological structure, a house that reflects Sharon’s identity as she seeks to change it.In the end, this production of The Roommate goes beyond its seemingly straightforward concept. It offers a poignant, incisive meditation on connection and the dangerous excitement of self-discovery. With performances that amaze, exuding precision and heart, and a world conjured with exquisite detail, the production flourishes. It is at once wickedly funny and achingly human, capturing the sheer audacity required to step out of the husk of the past and surrender to the dangerous, intoxicating thrill of finding purpose in our middle age. The Roommate stands as a testament to the influence and effect one person can have on our lives.
Runtime: 95 minutes, without an intermission
Salt Lake Acting Company presents the Utah Premiere of The Roommate by Jen Silverman
168 West 500 North
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
Box Office: (801) 363-7522
Open 11 AM – 5 PM, Monday – Friday, with extended hours during the run of the show.
October 1st through 26th, 2025
Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 PM
Sundays at 1 and 6 PM.
With an additional Tuesday performance on October 14th at 7:30 PM,
With an additional Saturday matinee on October 25th at 2 PM
Tickets: $35-$45
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Accessibility Information:
Open Captioned Performance: Sunday, October 19th, 2025 at 6 PM
Sensory Performance: Saturday, October 25th, 2025 at 2 PM
ASL Interpreted Performance: Saturday, October 25th, 2025 at 2 PM
Audio Described Performance: Sunday, October 26th, 2025 at 6 PM
Further accessibility information is available on our website, or by contacting our Accessibility Coordinator, Emily Sinclair at Emily@SaltLakeActingCompany.Org
Special Event:
SLAC’s Green Room Gallery:
Salt Lake Acting Company’s Green Room Gallery is more than just a space for patrons to lounge; it’s a vibrant hub for local visual arts. The gallery exemplifies SLAC’s mission to nurture the local creative community by offering diverse visual perspectives and celebrating the connections between visual and performing arts.
Throughout the run of The Roommate, SLAC will feature the art of Sue Martin. Sue Martin is a late-blooming artist who waited until near retirement to follow her passion for painting. She works intuitively to express the essence of subjects rather than realistic details. She finds inspiration in all her life experiences including aging, travel, food, and nature. Working from imagination and memory, paintings evolve in layers of paint, expressive mark making, and collage, until they arrive at a sweet spot between chaos and order.
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