Interview: Sara Gaston of THE ROOMMATE at STAGES HOUSTON

Houston audiences will soon have a chance to see Sara Gaston return to the stage in The Roommate, Jen Silverman’s two-person comedy coming to STAGES Houston October 23 through November 22. Gaston stars as Sharon, a recently divorced woman living in a small Iowa town whose life takes an unexpected turn when she welcomes a new roommate, Robin, played by Deborah Hope. What begins as a practical arrangement to share expenses becomes much more complicated as these two very different womeninfluence one another. Silverman’s play explores identity, curiosity, sexuality, and the possibility of becoming someone new, all through the relationship between two people who might otherwise never have crossed paths.

For Gaston, the production marks an exciting return to Houston theatre after years spent working more extensively in film and exploring directing. Her local stage credits include Red Hot Patriot at Main Street Theater, Hank Williams: Lost Highway at STAGES, and productions at The Alley Theatre. She also has fond memories of Spike Heels with Actors Theatre of Houston.In this conversation with BRETT CULLUM, Gaston discusses the challenges of bringing Sharon to life, what makes Silverman’s writing so distinctive, the differences between acting for the stage and screen, and the unexpected path that led her to a career in acting.

BRETT CULLUM: Let's start with The Roommate. What is it about?

Sara Gaston: It's about a divorcee, and that's the character I play, who is living in a small town in Iowa and decides to get a roommate. Initially, I think it's probably to share expenses, but also perhaps to have someone else in the house. The person who shows up is unlike anyone she's ever met before and begins to give her a new perspective on how the world turns.

BRETT CULLUM: What do you think is the biggest challenge in this particular script?

Sara Gaston: I'm working with this script a little differently than I've worked with scripts in the past. From a logistical standpoint, there's a lot of self-interrupting and repetition. That's something I'm finding challenging simply in terms of preparation. It's brilliantly written dialogue-wise because it is, in fact, how people speak. There are lots of missing punctuation marks, incomplete sentences, and implied thoughts. People don't always finish what they're saying, and they interrupt themselves or circle back to something they've already said. Then there's the story itself. It's going to be an interesting challenge to create the character's arc and do the inner work to make that transformation believable. What appears on the page to be a sudden change has to make sense internally.

BRETT CULLUM: Sharon spends much of the play discovering that perhaps the person she thought she was isn't necessarily the person she wants to remain. How do you approach that kind of transformation? Is it physical, emotional, or both?

Sara Gaston: I think it's going to be all of those things. But I also think there's hardly a person alive, at least in our culture, who hasn't wanted to chuck it all and start over at some point. You think, "I'm going to run away and live on an island somewhere," or "I'm going to live in a flat in Paris," or "I'm going to go be a missionary in Africa." The desire to wonder about the road not taken is probably fairly universal. I think the fantasy of doing that comes long before the liberation itself. My suspicion is that Sharon has been curious about the world for a very long time. She's certainly dissatisfied with where she is. Then along comes this person who offers her a glimpse of what else might be possible for her, and she takes that opportunity and runs with it.

BRETT CULLUM: Jen Silverman seems to be having a moment, particularly here in Houston. We recently had Collective Rage, and The Roommate was produced locally last year by Theodore Suburbia. The play also had a Broadway revival starring Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone. What attracted you to this particular production?

Sara Gaston: I have a dirty little secret: I didn't really know much about the play! I love STAGES, and I'm very fond of Derek, the new artistic director. He's been so lovely to audition for, and I wanted to audition for him again. I thought, "You know what? I want to do this." It had two strong female characters, and they're in my demographic and age range, which doesn't come along very often. So I thought I would go have some fun and have a little theatre experience. The audition was really fun. Jessica was great, and it was just a fun experience in the room. Then I got a callback. I was in Los Angeles at the time, so I had to throw together a quick Zoom callback and do my little dog-and-pony show in the room where I was staying. Then they told me they wanted me to play Sharon. I thought for sure that, if I were considered at all, I would be a shoo-in for Robin because she's much closer to my personality. So when they cast me as Sharon, I thought, "Okay, this is going to be a really interesting journey to figure out who she is."

BRETT CULLUM: That's funny because I've spoken with Deborah Hope, and she also assumed she would be playing the other role. Maybe the casting team knew something you didn't!

Sara Gaston: That's amazing! Maybe they're just brilliant casting directors by making us do the opposite. I can't wait to talk to Deborah about it. We'll be saying, "What are they doing? This is crazy!" And they chose two redheads, too, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with that in terms of wigs or hair dye or whatever.

BRETT CULLUM: I say leave it alone! You both have such great looks naturally. Let's make it a thing. 

Sara Gaston: Exactly. Peas in a pod, and we didn't even realize it!

BRETT CULLUM: Since The Roommate is a Jen Silverman play, I wanted to ask about its queer connection. Is that something audiences will find in the script?

Sara Gaston: There is. Robin identifies as queer. The implication is that she's a lesbian now, although she's been with men and dated men in the past. There's also a moment when Sharon starts wondering whether men are all they're cracked up to be. She becomes a little curious about what it might be like to explore her options.

BRETT CULLUM: One of the things I appreciate about Silverman's work is that queer themes can be present without necessarily becoming the entire story. What do you think is important about that?

Sara Gaston: What I love about it is that it's not a queer story. It's a story about people, and one of those people just happens to be queer. I really appreciate theatre, film, or television that doesn't make someone's sexual orientation the entire point. It simply makes it a normal part of life.

BRETT CULLUM: I think that's the aspiration of where we want to be. It's about two people connecting, and their identities are part of that experience without necessarily defining everything about them.

Sara Gaston: Exactly.

BRETT CULLUM: Let's talk about your own history in Houston theatre. What might audiences remember you from before The Roommate?

Sara Gaston: I haven't been onstage in a while. The last time I was at STAGES, I was in Hank Williams: Lost Highway, which was many, many years ago. I was also in Red Hot Patriot at Main Street Theater, a one-woman show about Molly Ivins. I did two different runs, one in 2012 and another in 2016. I've done some things at The Alley Theatre, including A Christmas Carol. Because if you're going to be at the Alley, you have to do A Christmas Carol! I'm pretty excited about this opportunity because I haven't been onstage in a while, apart from some work I've done with the Groundlings School in Los Angeles. Over the past several years, I've done much more film work, and I started directing films a few years ago. My trajectory has shifted a little. So the opportunity to be onstage again, and to be at STAGES in that gorgeous, relatively new theatre, was something that made me absolutely beside myself.

BRETT CULLUM: One of the productions I remember fondly was Spike Heels at Actors Theatre of Houston. It was one of the first things I saw when I moved back to Houston, and I loved it.

Sara Gaston: Oh, my gosh! I was just thinking about that show earlier today. You brought it up! I loved it, too. They were a little edgy, and it was just a delicious time.

BRETT CULLUM: How did acting first come into your life? Was it something you always knew you wanted to do?

Sara Gaston: Yes and no. My very first dream was to be an anthropologist. Then I was going to be an Olympic gymnast. That was my plan when I was a very young girl! But in eighth grade, my friend Shannon said she was going to take theatre arts as her elective in high school. I thought, "Oh, theatre arts? Okay. I'll sign up for that." It was high school, and you were going to be in school with the big kids. I wanted to have a class with my friend, so I signed up. We did Spoon River Anthology, the Edgar Lee Masters work, and we had to choose a monologue. I picked "The Village Atheist." I went home that night and couldn't wait to work on it. I looked up everything I didn't know, made a little costume, worked out some blocking, and brought a broom so I could throw it down for emphasis. I was this little 14-year-old, and when I finished, the teacher said, "Outstanding!" That was it. I was hooked. It was like I'd been looking for something all my life, and suddenly I'd found it. That's how I got started.

BRETT CULLUM: You've moved into film over the years, and now you're returning to the stage. For someone who doesn't know the difference between acting in a movie and acting in a play, how would you explain it?

Sara Gaston: From a purely technical standpoint, in terms of the craft, theatre is like an old-fashioned sprinkler that goes back and forth, spraying in a hundred different directions. Film is more like a shotgun spray nozzle that concentrates all the water very finely in one direction. It's a matter of being up and out or being very, very focused. That's the technical difference. Internally, what happens for me, both as an actor working in film and as a viewer watching it, is that we see so much more of a character's inner life. It becomes about reading a character's mind and watching their thoughts drift across their face, rather than having to declare everything that's happening. In theatre, particularly in bigger houses, we often have to declare what's happening emotionally. You can get away with much more subtlety in a smaller theatre, but larger spaces demand a different kind of communication. That's my opinion, anyway.

BRETT CULLUM: STAGES is a particularly intimate space, which seems ideal for a two-person play like this. The production has also generated tremendous advance interest, with early performances selling very well. Does that add pressure?

Sara Gaston: No pressure at all! Seriously, I was still in Los Angeles when we received a letter saying presales were around 75 percent and asking whether the production could be extended. I thought, "We haven't even started rehearsals! I'm not even in the city!" But the thing is, it's a comedy, and comedies do well with more people in the audience. You need that energy.

BRETT CULLUM: Absolutely. When you're in a group, there's almost permission to laugh. If the audience is small or spread out, people can become nervous about whether they should laugh. A full house can make a difference.

Sara Gaston: Yes!

BRETT CULLUM: You're working with director Jessica Jaye and sharing the stage with Deborah Hope. What are you looking forward to most as you get into rehearsals?

Sara Gaston: I've heard that Jessica is fabulous to work with, so I'm really looking forward to it. I don't know her yet, but I've heard wonderful things. It's going to be a wild ride. They're fitting a lot of performances into that month, and the play follows Come From Away at STAGES. That production is ultimately incredibly hopeful, even though it comes out of such tragic circumstances. I'm excited to be back, to work on this play, and to discover who Sharon is as we go along.

BRETT CULLUM: The Roommate runs October 23 through November 22 at STAGES Houston. Sara Gaston, thank you so much for talking with me about the production. I look forward to seeing you closer to Halloween and Thanksgiving!