The Roommate

(Paperback)

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Description

Silverman isnt interested in the dull details of conventional storytellingDelicious [and] surreal. A play that gives two noningnues strange [and] meaty roles. (New York Times) Sharons never had a roommate before. In fact, theres a lot Sharons never done before, but Robyns about to change all that. Jen Silvermans The Roommate shatters expectations with its witty and profound portrait of a blossoming intimacy between two women from vastly different backgrounds, as they navigate the complexities of identity, morality, and the promise of reinvention. Being bad never felt so good as it does in this riveting one-act about second acts. This revised and updated edition was published to coincide with the 2024 Broadway production which starred Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone.

Reviews

Silverman is an observant, lyrical and kind writer, generous to all and without any notes of condescension in [their] writing. For all the deviance, [The Roommate]s ambitions remain rooted to the study of its characters. * Chicago Tribune *
Silverman isnt interested in the dull details of conventional storytellingDelicious [and] surreal. A play that gives two noningnues strange [and] meaty roles. * New York Times *
In its wryly unassuming way, The Roommate is laced with insights into how a lifetimes accumulation of frustrations and disappointments can erupt into the kind of rebellion that only seems out of character to those who arent paying attention. * Boston Globe *

Author Bio

Jen Silverman (they/them) (Playwright) is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Plays include: The Roommate (Broadway: The Booth Theatre; Regionally: Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Steppenwolf, South Coast Repertory Theatre, etc); Highway Patrol (The Goodman); Spain (Second Stage Theater); Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties (Woolly Mammoth, MCC, Southwark Playhouse London); The Moors (Yale Repertory Theatre, The Playwrights Realm); and Witch (Writers Theatre, The Geffen, The Huntington). Books include: the debut novel We Play Ourselves, story collection The Island Dwellers, and novel Theres Going to be Trouble from Random House. Silverman also wrote the best-selling narrative podcast The Miranda Obsession for Audible, starring Rachel Brosnahan. Silverman is a three-time MacDowell Fellow, a member of New Dramatists, and a Scholar of Note at the American Library in Paris. They write for TV and film, including Tales of the City (Netflix) and Tokyo Vice (Max). Their OSCAR qualifying short film Troy screened at 70 festivals internationally including the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is featured online in The New Yorkers Screening Room. Honors include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim.