photo by Tim Fuller

Sharon (Angela Pierce), left, and Robyn (Sara Gettelfinger) lived in culturally opposite worlds their whole lives,,,,then they became roommates.

Are you one of those people who wake up in the middle of the night, filled with a lifetime of worries. By 3:17 a.m., life has become impossible, but when dawn finally does break all those problems begin to seem a little more manageable. And once that's done, the whole day doesn't seem too bad.

Well, if you are, Arizona Theatre Company's new play, “The Roommate,” brings a lifeline of possibilities. Written by Jen Silverman, directed by Marsha Mason, “The Roommate” offers a road map of hope for two diametrically opposed women in their 50s (or so) who meet by chance but then discover they both wish life would give them a fresh “Do Over.”

Robyn (Sara Gettelfinger) is tall and slender, born and New York raised in the Bronx, given to wearing leather clothing and, as the play opens, finding herself in Iowa City, Iowa, ready for the Midwest to show her what it's got.

Sharon (Angela Pierce) is a dyed-in-the-wool Iowan dedicated to believing in the importance of being nice. But way inside of herself Sharon can't help wondering what it would be like to become someone less predictable.

The scene is set when Robyn answers Sharon's newspaper ad looking for a roommate to share expenses. Quickly we also learn Robyn is an extreme vegetarian and a “homosexual.”

Sharon loves it. Robyn isn't so sure.

The first act is mostly the two mismatched women getting to know each other – with lots of cross-cultural jokes about the differences between the Bronx and Iowa City.

There is also a kind of balancing act going on – a re-balancing act, actually – as Sharon begins to see opportunities in this less-nice lifestyle that Robyn lives to the hilt.

Theatrically, both women's characters begin as forces of opposition. As their dialogue continues, both Sharon and Robyn are moving past each other, away from where each began way back at the start of Act One.

There are lessons to be learned here. It's never too late to start over. Don't close your mind to new opportunities, That sort of thing.

But my favorite is to stop waiting for someone else to come along to change your boring life. Dive in to make that change yourself.

“The Roommate” runs through April 4, with performances at various times Tuesdays through Sundays in the downtown Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. For details and reservations visit atc.org or phone 833-ATC-SEAT.

As a theatrical performance, the conversations between turbulent Marjorie and mechanical Walter are brilliantly performed. Playwright Jordan Harrison has constructed “Marjorie Prime” so cleverly, and director Christopher Johnson puts so much attention to the most subtle details, we come away believing reality can indeed exist in many shades of imagination.

Completing the cast are Carley Elizabeth Preston and Matt Walley as Marjorie's tense daughter Tess and her goodhearted husband Jon. Tess is equally as mercurial as her mom in abrupt mood shifts. Slipping into middle age Tess faces her own dystopia that she never had a warm relationship with her mother.

Every conversation between the two always ends in a bickering, sputtering argument. For both women, family life exists more in their head than in their hearts. In one series of short bursts, Preston brilliantly leaps from crisis conclusion to crisis combustion.

So we in the audience are left to ponder, does it really matter what happened in the past? Or does what we remember become more important than what actually happened?

ing in various combinations deliver one intense rendition after another filled with their personal hopes for some relief, offering 27 blues flavored pieces straight from the 1930s gut of Depression Era struggles in gritty cities, nearly 100 years ago.

Award winning Sheldon Epps first conceived of this revue in 1980, opening a successful Broadway run in 1982, followed by an equally popular London production in 1987.

Epps found ways to blend the music of such established composers as Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer with the popular blues success of marque names like Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Bessie Smith and others.

From the evergreen favorites “Lush Life” and “Stompin' at the Savoy” to the sly double entendre of “Take Me For A Buggy Ride” to the equally defiant “Wild Women Don't Have the Blues,” no heart left wanting goes unexamined.

Think of this indigo journey as a musical confessional so convincing in its search for sweet release, the capacity audience on opening night at the downtown Temple of Music and Art jumped to its feet in a standing ovation of the joyful discovery to learn what is meant by making it hurt so good.

This remarkable metaphor of a religious experience is carried out in the soaring stage design of Edward E. Haynes Jr. A towering church-like arc is filled with patterned columns that could also represent endless towers of faceless apartment buildings in a shadowy urban setting.

Included in the stage design are setups representing four generic apartments flaunting their ordinariness in cold concern for these star-crossed performers.

Each is given a descriptive title rather than a name. They are: The Lady from the Road (Roz White), The Woman of the World (April Nixon), The Girl with a Date (Camryn Hamm) and The Man in the Saloon (Darryl Reuben Hall). As the titles imply, each of these women represents all women at different stages in their lives.

The man, presumably, stands for all men who end up by themselves in a bar.

There is no dialogue or plot per se but each song is self-contained, telling its own story, adding another chapter to the challenging life of being female.

“Blues in the Night” runs through Feb. 15, with performances at various times Tuesdays through Sundays in the downtown Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Run time is approximately two hours, including intermission.

Tickets are $33-$113. For additional details and reservations, 833-ATC-SEAT (282-7328) or online, atc.org

Gaslight photo 

Another eager audience settles into the pine paneled theater to start their new  year with comic western history and free popcorn.

This Gaslight Theatre classic has returned in a new production that flaunts its soaring wiles across a curtained stage of high notes and evil intentions.