How Funny (Or Terrifying) Would It Be If You Tried To Turn Your Life Around?
Chatting with Adrianne Krstansky and Paula Plum
What Lyric Stage shows have you appeared in before?
Adrianne Krstansky: Barbecue and November.
Paula Plum: Too many to count, starting in 1975 when I was still in college
and in one of the first Lyric Stage shows. And of course, many
directed by Spiro: Death of a Salesman, Sideman, 33 Variations,
Blythe Spirit.
What excites you about The Roommate?
AK: I’m very excited to work with Spiro for the first time. And I’m
really excited to be in a play about middle-aged women where
I’m not the wife or the mom.
PP: I always love Spiro’s take on gritty plays and I’m blessed to
be working with Adrianne as my scene partner.
What challenges do you find in the script?
AK: Robyn is challenging because she does not actually reveal
anything about herself until about halfway through the play.
I have to figure out how to stay open and available without
being duplicitous at the same time.
PP: Sharon is challenging because she seems like an open
book but her intentions are hard to figure out and she’s hard
to decipher. Is she naïve or is she a con?
Throughout the play, Robyn and Sharon make many
discoveries about the other that change who they are.
How has a roommate helped you to change?
AK: I had a roommate who was the queen of the party circuit
and every weekend we would have about 30-50 people in our
apartment. At these parties, I would pick one or two people
who I thought were cool and take them up to a crawl space in
the attic. What I learned how to do as a result of that is how to
become the cool, quiet person at the party.
PP: My college roommate Eve — we were roommates 4 – 5
times — helped me renew my interest in meditation. And she
eats healthier. She was a good influence. I’m not sure Sharon
and Robyn are necessarily a good influence on each other.
What do you and your character from The Roommate
have in common?
AK: I think we’re both quiet thrill seekers. We’re both unassuming
enough that no one would ever suspect us of much. I would be
a great spy because no one would ever suspect me of anything
other than being a nice, unassuming person.
PP: Iowa! My father was from there and I spent 14 summers there.
And I think I’m impulsive. I am. And experimental.
What is something you hope the audience will look out for?
AK: I think we tend to label relationships that we are in (love,
parental, marriages, etc.) and what this play exposes is that there
are relationships in our lives that are beyond definition — and
that our instincts to label and put these interactions in a box
actually can keep us separated from each other.
PP: I hope that they’re drawn in to the mystery of this
relationship. Because it’s unique — it’s about two women who
really need each other.
How do you feel about working with each other?
AK: I love working with Paula Plum. Working with Paula is like
coming home.
PP: Adrianne is so deep, real, and honest. There’s not an ounce
of performance in her performance. You can always count on
the truth from her.
The Roommate opens October 19th. Get your tickets today here or 617.585.5678!