Get an inside look at the process of creating RT productions with our IN CONVERSATION series
The Roommate runs April 28th – May 14th at Riverside Theatre. Read our interview below with director of The Roommate Nina Morrison and RT’s Marketing Team. Tickets can be purchased at riversidetheatre.org/roommate or by calling the box office at 319-259-7099.
Could you tell me about your initial thoughts and reactions reading the script… what were you really curious about/interested in?
NM: I was really interested in Sharon’s (Joy Vanderdort-Cobb) transformation and her belief at the beginning of the play that she really had no options to change anymore in her life.That she had made her decisions, and she was done. Then Robyn (Mary Mayo) sparks something in her that ignites this new set of beliefs about herself, and new risk tolerance, where suddenly she’s dying to take risks, and dying to be outside of the law: not only general/social laws but actual legal activity. Sharon never felt the freedom to do what Robyn does (which is whatever Robyn wants). She wants to be outside of the official economy and I thought that was really exciting, and presented a beautiful metaphor for the belief that not only can we change, but we’re allowed to change and it’s a positive thing to change. I’m going to turn 50 in July, and I would lose it if someone said, “After that, you can’t make any more changes.You’re locked in.”
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Do we see a similar world of transformation within Robyn?
NM: Yeah! Robyn’s arc though is less visible because it’s emotional. Robyn does not allow herself to become emotionally involved with the people around her. Robyn feels so isolated, and at the beginning of the play Robyn assumes she’s going to stay isolated. She has a line later on in the play where she says to Sharon about her past life of antics, “I was gonna give this up, but you’re so fun! And I have so much fun with you.” And I totally believe she was gonna give it up and I think she would’ve been able to if she hadn’t had this connection with Sharon that was so unexpected. So her arc feels emotional, whereas Sharon’s arc is more focused in taking action. All of a sudden Robyn’s decisions feel bittersweet, because she’s connected to Sharon, and doesn’t want to leave her.
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Speaking of this bittersweet world within the characterization, the play itself has an atmosphere that’s both very comedic and very dark. How do you navigate and build this world that has both heartfelt and joyous moments but also really troubling moments?
NM: First of all, I’m working with amazing actors. They’re both incredibly experienced, they are so thoughtful, and our table work was profound. They have found these characters that are such authentic beings, and in an authentic life there’s huge highs and huge lows, and there’s all kind of combos. Because they’re playing these characters in a fully embodied way, it wasn’t difficult because they’re already so complex. It would’ve been more difficult to have it be very black and white. As far as the show overall: it’s a fully realistic set, and I made some choices with the designers to highlight some moments in a way that’s just slightly outside of reality. Some light changes, added sound, a sort of light suggestion that there are moments that are transformative, and I want to highlight those for the audience. To give a sense that I recognize, and the team recognizes, the playwright was saying: this is a moment of deep transformation. “Transform” was our unifying verb we worked with throughout the process. By the end all the elements—set, lights, costumes, even physicality—had to look nothing like it did at the beginning, because we have to see that not only did Sharon feel permission to transform, but everything transformed with her.
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Something we’re really excited about is being able to put on this show here at Riverside: a show set in Iowa City. I would love to know what this meant for you as a director, and how do you use this piece of information (about the world of the play) being a parallel/homage to the world we are physically existing in right now? Does the world around you then influence the production and how it comes to being?
NM: It’s super fun to be able to talk about Gilbert Street, and use Hy-Vee receipts and products—talk about the Co-Op etc, and all of the regular things that fill Iowa City lives. The word that comes to mind is “cozy”; it’s been really nice to celebrate this city… The way Sharon talks about it in the play, it’s full of culture and hot yoga and everything else. While it feels small, Iowa City has a ton to offer and it’s cool to see Sharon talking about it the way I talk about it, or most people I know talk about it. I moved to Iowa City ten years ago after living in New York City prior, and so it was a culture shock at first, but then it was a really pleasant culture shock! At first I was like, “everyone’s so slow… nothing stays open all night.” But now I’m like, “I can get anywhere in 10 minutes!” and I have such comfort and convenience, but I still have rich culture like Riverside, FilmScene, Englert, and all the amazing things at the university. It has been really nice to celebrate the city in this way.
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Similar to you, we see Robyn also land in Iowa from the chaotic New York City.. but perhaps it’s for that exact reason she moves here, to slow down?
NM: New Yorkers are so New York-centric. When I told people I was moving to go to the University of Iowa they kept mixing Iowa with Idaho with Ohio. I can see this world being so appealing for Robyn, wanting that certain anonymity of being “somewhere in the midwest.”
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And while we’re in this somewhat anonymous state (to New Yorkers at least), with a straightforward one-set play and two actors on stage, we witness this mighty world of vast emotions, conflicts, and collaborations.
NM: Absolutely. Jen wrote such a massive and expansive work, filled with poetry and metaphor and a certain type of electricity between the two characters from when they first crash into each other… the audience thinks “how on earth are they ever going to connect?” and they do, and the bond is beautiful, and so unexpected. I think because Silverman wrote something so full of a largeness of experience, even though we’re watching one person discover her own potential, it feels like watching a star explode. We’re watching a cosmos around these women, and their experiences are huge. It’s such a beautiful thing to witness, and Silverman provided us with some really transcendent moments that are filled with the complexity of what it is to change. What I really loved that the scenic designer did is give us a look into the home, but it feels as though it’s floating. You can see around the sides, you can see trusses suggesting the roof of the home, but there isn’t a true roof—it feels totally open. That adds to this idea that it’s a world but it’s also a metaphor for any-sized world.