A Farmhouse Drama in a ‘Swing State’

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Photo by Michael Brosilow

Tami Workentin and Jack Lancaster - Swing State (2026)

Tami Workentin and Jack Lancaster in Next Act Theatre's 'Swing State' (2026).

Tami Workentin begins the drama alone onstage. She’s preparing food in a quaint, little farmhouse somewhere in rural Wisconsin. It’s a pleasantly solitary moment that masks a deeper darkness in Next Act Theatre’s production of Swing State. Workentin plays Peg Smith: a widow living largely alone on a big property. Jack Lancaster renders a complex portrait of Ryan, a man trying to get his life together. As the drama opens, Ryan doesn’t have a whole lot of energy. He’s a trucker at the end of his day. She wants to talk to him about something important, but he’s not able to focus on it. Peg has been thinking a lot about death. She wants to talk to Ryan about leaving him in her will.

Sometime later, there’s a theft on Peg’s property. There’s an investigation that uncovers much more than Peg might expect from the local sherif (Kelli Strickland) and her deputy (Elyse Edelman.) Edelman provides a comforting presence onstage that serves to lighten some of the harshness of the rest of the drama. Strickland lends the stage a textured emotional complexity that goes well beyond the surface-level psychological irritant that she appears to be initially.

Cody Estle has done an admirable job of keeping the dramatic dynamics within the ensemble feeling both deeply resonant and briskly paced. Scenic Designer Jeffrey D. Kmiec has constructed an elegantly spacious a little farmhouse for the stage. There was just enough detail in and around the edges of everything that make it feel lived in without having so much there that it becomes a distraction from a thoroughly satisfying drama.

Next Act Theatre’s production of Swing State continues through March 8 at Next Act’s performance space on 255 S. Water St. For ticket reservations and more, visit Next Act online.