Dena Day and Carson Day, who plays Carl Perkins, and Addison Schuh, who plays Dyanne (Provided photo by Naj Wikoff)

Sarah Wilson of Keene has a new gig, serving as the executive director of the Depot Theatre in Westport, the Adirondacks Park’s oldest professional equity theater. Three months in, she seems to have been born for the job.

Wilson brings to the theater decades of experience representing authors and such clients as Hearst Publishing and Lionsgate Entertainment. She is well connected locally and has served on such local boards as Adirondack Film Society, Adirondack Health and the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism. As a consequence, she connects well with the actors, playwrights and tech staff at the Depot Theatre as well as with local community leaders, businesses and the general public, skills that have enabled her to land running.

As always, the Depot Theatre presents a terrific series of offerings, and though the season is winding down, it’s ending with a flourish, “A Million Dollar Quartet,” which just wrapped, and “The Roommate,’ which is performing Aug. 28 to 31.

Written by the award-winning American playwright Jen Silverman, “The Roommate” had its Broadway debut featuring Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone. It’s akin to a female “The Odd Couple,” yet with some delightful differences.

“We spend a lot of time reading bad plays,” said long-time Depot Artistic Producer Karen Lewis, who is directing “The Roommate.” “But when we read a play that we feel can speak to people, and we can stand listening to it 30 to 40 times during rehearsals and performance, then we know we’ve got a good one, such as ‘The Roommate.’ First, it’s a two-hander (features two actors), it played on Broadway, and, since then, playwright Jen Silverman has enhanced it.”

Depot Theatre Artistic Producer Karen Lewis and “The Roommate” co-lead actor Beth Glover (Provided photo by Naj Wikoff)

“The play is about two very different women discovering through each other a way of opening up their lives,” said Lewis. “One woman is very accustomed to taking risks, but has sworn it off, and the other woman is very accustomed to her insulated little life, and finds a way to break free, something we all want to do once in a while. I hope it will inspire our audience.”

As a director and screenwriter, Lewis enjoys watching the process of good actors digging into a role and bringing it to life. She enjoys watching how they relate to each other emotionally and physically, and how they can rehearse using just a couple of props, and in this case, while on the “Million Dollar Quartet” set. She noted that by utilizing Equity actors, the Depot often secures upcoming talent, including actors who have performed on Broadway but not in lead roles. At Depot, they get that chance, which is exciting for local audiences.

Co-lead actor in “The Roommate,” Beth Glover, playing the role of Sharon, said she loves the process of self-discovery her character goes through.

“Her life has been upended,” said Glover. “Sharon’s recently divorced and doesn’t like being alone, so she decides to get a roommate. She’s trying to figure out what she’s going to do, and then this very different person becomes her roommate. At first, she thinks, ‘Oh, I’ll be like her.’ And then, well, I don’t want to give too much away, I’ll think people will enjoy it.”

Glover has been part of the Depot family since 1998, and loves the variety of roles she’s been able to take on. She said her favorite places to work are found spaces like the Depot Theatre that also serves as an Amtrak train station. She feels that there is a special magic in such spaces, as both the audience and actors want something special to happen.

Depot Theatre Executive Director Sarah Wilson and Stage Manager Lydya Felix (Provided photo by Naj Wikoff)

“I have said many a line after the train has come through and the audience loves it,” said Glover.

No train interrupted “The Million Dollar Quartet,” and they announced that if one were ‘a commin’ they’d incorporate it into the music.

If you missed “The Million Dollar Quartet,” you missed an informative and lively hoot. Four early rock ‘n’ roll legends — Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley — all got their start at Sam Phillips’ Memphis, Tennessee-based Sun Records, “where Rock and Roll was born.” Critical to Phillips’ success was meeting, cultivating and helping launch the career of Presley, who, through marrying country music with R&B, established a new sound that crossed racial and social barriers.

Presley’s success attracted to Sun Records such talents as Cash, Perkins and Lewis, as well as Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich and Conway Twitty. For all their fame and shared beginnings, Cash, Lewis, Perkins and Presley only performed together once, and that was at the invitation of Phillips.

Phillips’ goal was to get Cash to sign a three-year contract, this after having sold his contract with Presley to RCA Victor as a way of getting out of debt. He hoped that the energy of these four together would inspire Cash to sign a new contract, not knowing that both Cash and Perkins had recently signed agreements with Columbia.

Depot audience members experienced six talented lead actors, along with a lot of uplifting, well-played and sung music. The Depot Theatre rocked. One of the fine-tuned performances was by Carson Day, who not only brought Carl Perkins to life but also demonstrated that he is an accomplished musician as well. Attending the performance was his number one fan, his mom, Dena Day.

“It’s amazing and wonderful to have an actor in the family,” said Dena Day. “His grandmother, who acted in high school, is thrilled and excited as I am. Carson started acting in sixth grade, continued through high school and college in New York, and never came back. But it’s been exciting as I have gotten to travel all over the place to watch him perform. It’s been wonderful.”

“I couldn’t be more grateful; my mom’s support means everything to me,” said Carson after the performance. “My dad wasn’t an actor, but he’s a musician, so he’s given me support, which has been helpful in this role. I’m having a blast.”

“My first three months with the Depot Theatre have been exciting, frenetic, rewarding and fun,” said Sarah Wilson. “It was great to come on board with such a great season in place. We have a terrific team. I love the theater’s history, back story, and how it continues to evolve. I am even more excited about how next season is shaping up, and that we’re finishing this year with such a strong performance that ‘The Roommate’ will deliver.”

Tickets for “The Roommate” are available online through the theater’s website: depottheatre.org.

(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley and has been writing his column for the Lake Placid News since 2005.)