Photo Flash: Steppenwolf Celebrates Opening Night of THE ROOMMATE

Now playing, Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the Chicago premiere production of The Roommate by Jen Silverman, directed by Tony Award Winner Phylicia Rashad. Ensemble members Ora Jones and Sandra Marquez star in this celebration of female friendship and midlife renaissance.

The Roommate runs through August 5, 2018 in the Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N Halsted St. Press performances are Saturday, June 30 at 3pm and Sunday, July 1 at 6pm; opening night is Sunday, July 1. Single tickets ($20-$93) are currently on-sale through Audience Services at 312-335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

Sharon is Midwestern nice. But to Robyn, her new roommate from the Bronx, that just means very nosy and very, very talkative. A comical mismatch leads to a surprising and touching friendship in this new comedy about how early-life choices lead to mid-life challenges and the unexpected rewards of bridging the divide. The Roommate is a warm, funny story about a chance cohabitation that sets two lives spinning. Think The Odd Couple meets Breaking Bad.

Ora Jones (Robyn) is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble, where she has appeared in The Doppelgänger (an international farce), Tracy Letts's adaptation of Three Sisters, Middletown, The Brother/Sister Plays, The Unmentionables, The Crucible, The Violet Hour and Morning Star. Broadway credits include Les Liaisons Dangereuses andMatilda. Other Chicago credits include A Christmas Carol, Animal Crackers, Proof, The Beard of Avon (Goodman Theatre); Sunday in the Park with George, The Madness of George III, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, A Flea in Her Ear (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); the world premiere of My Kind of Town (TimeLine Theatre Company); Execution of Justice (About Face Theatre); Our Town (Writers Theatre) and productions at Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago Children's Theatre and Rivendell TheatreEnsemble. Her regional and New York work includes performances at the Weston Playhouse, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Next Act Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, American Place Theatre and The Public Theater. She has appeared on film in Chicago Fire, Save the Last Dance, The Weather Man, Stranger Than Fiction and Were the World Mine.

Sandra Marquez (Sharon) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in spring 2016 and most recently appeared in The Doppelgänger (an international farce), Mary Page Marlowe and The Motherf**ker with the Hat. Other credits at Steppenwolf Theatre Company include A Streetcar Named Desire, Sonia Flew, One Arm and a Steppenwolf for Young Adults production. At Teatro Vista, where she is a longtime company member, she directed Fade, My Mañana Comes, Breakfast Lunch & Dinner and Our Lady of the Underpass and has acted in numerous productions including A View from the Bridge for which she received a Jeff Award. Last fall she completed a three-year arc playing Clytemnestra in what was billed as Court Theater's Iphigenia Cycle (Iphigenia at Aulis, Electra and Agamemnon). Some film and television credits include Boss, Empire, Chicago Med, Chicago Justice and Timer. Ms. Marquez is on the theater faculty at Northwestern University, where she very much enjoys teaching and mentoring young people.

Phylicia Rashad (Director), one of the entertainment world's most extraordinary performing artists, has been bringing laughter to millions of television viewers around the world, Moving Theatre-goers to tears, thrilling movie fans, offering new insights to students by teaching at renowned learning institutions such as Howard University and Julliard, and breaking new ground as a director.

Phylicia Rashad's directing credits include August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Joe Turner's Come and Gone at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles (2014 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Director) and Fences at the Long Wharf Theatre and the McCarter Theatre. This spring Ms. Rashad makes her NYC stage directing debut with the comedy Our Lady of 121st Street, running off-Broadway from May 1 to June 10.

Photos courtesy of Steppenwolf