Sharon is recently divorced and looking for a roommate.
Robyn is from the Bronx, looking to reset her life and escape her questionable past.
Of course, bucolic Iowa City is the perfect setting for those kinds of do-overs.
That's the overview of Jen Silverman's dramedy "The Roommate," which Arizona Theatre Company brings to the Temple of Music and Art March 15-April 4.
But it's what's beneath the surface that is the true essence of the two-woman play, directed by four-time Oscar nominee and Emmy-winning actress Marsha Mason and starring veteran stage actress Sara Gettelfinger as Robyn and in-demand TV actress Angela Pierce as Sharon.
Director Marsha Mason, left, works with Angela Pierce in a scene from "The Roommate," coming to the Temple of Music and Art starting March 15.
“As an overall picture I really love that they are two very different people and two very different women," said Pierce, whose résumé is filled with TV guest appearances ("NCIS New Orleans," "Law & Order," "30 Rock," "Private Practice") as well as stage work.
Four-time Oscar nominee and Emmy-winning actress Marsha Mason is directing "The Roommate," her third production with Arizona Theatre Company.
And then there's Robyn.
She's a con artist with a past that Sharon unwittingly uncovers.
Robyn presents herself as a lesbian potter and a vegan; she's apparently neither. But she desperately wants to turn her life around.
Which turns out to be challenging when Sharon outs her past and then asks Robyn to teach her all her tricks.
"There's something about Robyn that excites her growth and curiosity,” said Pierce, who is making her first ATC appearance since she was in "Proof" in 2002. "I think in general, in society and culture, women have this particular template. With Sharon, she's going to be a homemaker and a mother. But deep down inside she has these other desires and other wants and needs that haven't been supported and given voice to until she meets Robyn."
"This is a love letter of unexpected friendships and unexpected growth," Gettelfinger said, “having your mind opened to situations you hadn't expected."
Gettelfinger, a veteran stage actor who appeared in the Tony Award-winning "Water for Elephants" on Broadway and the national Broadway tours of "The Addams Family," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Seussical," said her character hits close to home.
“Some of her different mistakes and struggles are actually close to the person I am in my real life,” said Gettelfinger, who has had her own bouts with addiction. “It’s very cool to have a lot of things that hit close to home but also cultivate other aspects of her that ... teaches you some things about your experiences because you're looking at it from the lens of a different person.”
Mason, making her third directorial appearance with ATC, said if humanity was a genre of theater, "The Roommate" would fit right in.
“It’s really humanity," she said. "What’s great about the play and why it’s so solid and good and why the audience is going to have a full experience is because both of the characters go through growth and a period of enormous relief for both of them in terms of where they came and where they are going.”
"At a time when people feel so opposite, it’s kind of a wonderful experience to see that if you spend some time getting to know a person who is not like you, you can grow and learn something from that experience no matter how long or how short that period is,” Mason added.
