The Californer - A Kid Like Jake presented by IAMATheatre Clompany

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Parenting and gender issues are at fore in IAMA Theatre company's season opener, the West Coast premiere of Daniel Pearl's award-winning play.

PASADENA, Calif. - Californer -- IAMA Theatre Company opens its 12th anniversary season with an award-winning play about a mother and father trying to do right by their son. Jennifer Chambers directs Sarah Utterback (Grey's Anatomy), Tim Peper, Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue, Shameless, The Ranch) and Olivia Liang (One Day at a Time) in the West Coast premiere of A Kid Like Jake by Daniel Pearle, newly revised, opening Oct. 3 in a Pasadena Playhouse guest production at The Carrie Hamilton Theatre, continuing through Nov. 3; low-priced previews begin Sept. 28.

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Pearle's acclaimed play is a study of intimacy and parenthood, and the fantasies that accompany both. On the eve of the admissions cycle for NYC kindergartens, Alex and Greg have high hopes for their son Jake — a precocious four-year-old who prefers Cinderella to G.I. Joe, but as Jake's behavior becomes erratic and perplexing, other adults in his life start to wonder whether his fondness for dress-up might be cause for concern.

A Kid Like Jake premiered in a sold-out run at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater, where it was a New York Times "Critic's Pick". Pearle's feature film adaptation, directed by Silas Howard and starring Claire Danes, Jim Parsons and Octavia Spencer, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Fest and was subsequently distributed by IFC Films.

"When the play was first written, it was before Transparent, before Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox, before 'gender expansiveness' was part of our cultural lexicon," Pearle explains. "But although the language surrounding gender identity and the details of the conversation may have changed, the core of the story remains the same. It's still about the anxiety of being a parent, of trying to do the right thing for your child, of how hard it is to let kids be who they are without projecting onto them. And I'm very excited that this production is being directed by someone who's lived that experience firsthand."

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A Kid Like Jake opens on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 8 p.m., continues on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. through Nov. 3, previews on Sept. 28,29, and Oct. 2; tickets $20-40, The Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena CA 91101. Phone: 323-380-8843 or go to www.iamatheatre.com.