Charming 'Dog Mom' at Florida Studio Theatre

An Actress Plays a Stray Dog

By: Jay Handelman - Jun 29, 2026

 

 

 

I have never been much of a dog person, but I quickly fell for the one played by Kelsey Leigh Stalter in Tate Elizabeth Hanyok’s charming and touching new comedy drama “Dog Mom” running through July 26 in Florida Studio Theatre’s Keating Theatre.

Wearing dirty overalls and a ratty yellow sweater, Stalter plays a stray geriatric golden retriever who is picked up from a Brooklyn park by a recently divorced woman. Liz is rebuilding her life, starting in a tiny apartment where she can barely fit, and has no intention of keeping the dog.

But Dog seems to have a sixth sense about just what her new owner needs and Liz is soon captivated. How could she possibly give her to a shelter?

And why would she? Just watch the joy in Stalter’s face and whole body, as Dog sniffs her way around the apartment, trying to detect every smell, rejecting the taste of a forgotten coin or delighting in a chip she finds in the couch cushions. Dog struggles to stay still in her doggy bed, preferring to be closer to Liz on the couch. When Liz leaves for groceries, Dog stands by the door eagerly awaiting her return, and you get a sense of a dog’s perspective as she stares out the window observing birds and other creatures.

Within days, Katharine McLeod as Liz has shifted from reluctant dog protector to eager owner. It probably helps that Dog can speak English so we can understand the connection between them. Perhaps on some level, Dog is really just barking, but they can communicate directly.

Hanyok clearly knows dogs, their behaviors and their impacts on the humans they interact with. And it’s a delight to see the shift that Liz goes through from nervous first-time dog owner to overprotective dog mom over the course of the play’s breezy 80-minute running time.

“Dog Mom” can be sweet and lovely on a basic level, but Hanyok makes it a bit more philosophical, as she gently introduces the ideas of learning to give yourself to someone, accepting love and companionship and being open to new experiences, even if they initially make you shudder.

That’s Liz’s first reaction to her new neighbor, Nell (played by Marina Re), who has her own rambunctious pup, named Ruben (Ryan G. Dunkin). He jumps around in circles, repeatedly says “What?” when he detects something new, acts startled when he sees his reflection in the mirror, and bark/talks to Dog when he senses her through the thin walls that divide them.

Re plays a buttinsky with a lot of personality and charm, someone who could be annoying in other hands. Dunkin is full of energy as Ruben, showing us a totally different kind of dog than the one Stalter is playing.

The fine cast is rounded out by the versatile Kraig Swartz, who plays nearly a dozen vastly different male and female characters, from a shelter worker to an angry neighbor, to a woman who can’t resist meeting the new dog in the neighborhood. There’s even an obnoxious beret-wearing, cigarette-smoking French cat with an evil attitude.

Even though he quickly changes from one character to another, each one is distinct, with a different accent or attitude.

Director Nancy Rominger keeps the action moving at just the right pace and brings out mostly subtle shifts in the characters that make them more compelling as the play develops.

Those with longer theater memories will likely be reminded of A.R. Gurney’s delightful comedy “Sylvia,” in which an adult woman plays a dog who speaks and comes between the man who brings her home and his jealous wife.

But Hanyok takes “Dog Mom” in its own inventive directions that bring out sweet emotions.

FST is one of several theaters taking part in the rolling world premiere of Hanyok’s play through the National New Play Network. The program gives playwrights time to refine the piece between productions in different cities and it takes away the pressure that the idea of a “world premiere” might have for the writer or any single theater.

“Dog Mom” has already been produced in Atlanta and Sacramento and is due for a production in London this fall. I suspect we’re going to be hearing more about the play and the playwright. This one’s a keeper.

“Dog Mom” by Tate Elizabeth Hanyok, directed by Nancy Rominger. Reviewed June 26, Florida Studio Theatre, Keating Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota. Through July 26. Tickets are $25-$46. floridastudiotheatre.org; 941-366-9000

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