BROOKFIELD — When typical Americans Peter and Cindy Kirby invite college exchange student Rob into their home, they find he is the perfect guest — even though he has a lot to learn.

Their daughter Kate helps Rob navigate American society with the help of her boyfriend, Sam. But will Rob cross the line and outstay his welcome?

ROB is a play about technology, and society’s expectations and constrictions. It is about discovering one’s true self and learning how to express feelings in an unfamiliar society.

The comedy is also the final play written by Ray Sipherd of Newtown, who was an early Sesame Street writer working on the show from 1969 to 1986.

His work on Sesame Street earned three Emmy Awards. He wrote song lyrics and authored several Sesame Street books. A graduate of Yale, Ray created the award-winning NPR program “All Things Considered” and published a number of novels and short stories.

He later served as a senior staff editor for Reader’s Digest Condensed Books.

After retiring, he returned to his first love — writing for the stage. He wrote several plays, some of which received their first readings at Brookfield Theatre including The Rescue Station, Players, and Christmas At Macomber’s.

Director Lou Okell began working with Sipherd on ROB in 2019 but their plans to stage the show at Brookfield were cancelled due to the pandemic. Okell had previously collaborated with Sipherd on a number of his plays. She found his writing style, she said, to be crisp and insightful and his characters both honest and complex.

She is very excited, she said recently, to be able to finally bring Sipherd’s ROB to its first audience. She offered thanks to Sipherd’s widow, Anne Marie Foran, for all her help with the project.

A pair of staged readings is planned at Brookfield Theatre. Performances are scheduled for Friday, May 17, at 7 pm, and Saturday, May 18, at 2 pm. Both are free, with reservations requested and available through brookfieldtheatre.org/

ROB stars Tom Ovitt in the title role. Tom Heydenburg and Alicia Dempster play Peter and Cindy Kirby with Delaney Dempster as their daughter Kate and Andrew Peterson as Sam.

Rounding out the cast are Isabelle Bergman as social worker Mrs Vogel, Gary Blu as Agent Harrison from the federal immigration department, and Barbara Bock as the voice of Alexa.

The theater is at 184 Whisconier Road (Route 25) in Brookfield Center, adjacent to Brookfield Library.