IAMA Theatre Company Will Present Workshop of ...BUT YOU COULD'VE HELD MY HAND to Close 18th Season
JuCoby Johnson's play, directed by H. Adam Harris, will run at Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles
IAMA Theatre Company, established as a major cultivator of new voices and creator of boundary-pushing new work, will conclude its 18th season with the workshop production of …but you could've held my hand.
Written by JuCoby Johnson and directed by H. Adam Harris. …but you could've held my hand is a time-hopping portrait of four Black friends growing up, growing apart, and growing into themselves. From a stolen slice of wedding cake at age 10 to the complexities of adulthood, …but you could've held my hand offers up a non-linear swirl of past and present, pulsing with 90s R&B, prom night confessions, awkward first kisses, and other touchstone moments.
Through love, queerness, and friends-turned-family, the play showcases the beauty and heartbreak of relationships across a lifetime. …but you could've held my hand will play June 4-15, 2026 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles. Tickets ($35, includes fees) are available at iamatheatre.com.
“JuCoby Johnson's …but you could've held my hand is a beautiful exploration of friendship and ritual making it the perfect way to conclude our 18th season. His creativity and innovative structure, along with his poetic and honest dialogue, will immediately draw an audience in,” said IAMA Theatre Company Artistic Director Stefanie Black. “I'm so excited for IAMA to be a part of JuCoby's artistic journey alongside his longtime friend and collaborator, H. Adam Harris, a director and theatremaker that all of Los Angeles and the rest of the country must know. This whole workshop will be bursting with love and joy. It's not to be missed.”
IAMA Theatre Company's production of …but you could've held my hand will feature Wade Allain-Marcus as Max, Paul James as Eddie, Courtney Sauls* as Marigold, and Krenée A. Tolson as Charlie. The standbys for this production are Nedra Snipes and JuCoby Johnson. (* denotes IAMA Theatre Company Ensemble Member)
The production team bringing …but you could've held my hand to the stage includes Jordan Bass (Casting Director), Elton Bradman (Sound Designer), Alexis Carrie (Costume Designer), Kassia Curl (Assistant Lighting Designer), H. Adam Harris (Director), Anise Hines (Intimacy Director/Choreographer), JuCoby Johnson (Playwright), Fred Kinney (Scenic and Props Designer), Max Kunke (Assistant Stage Manager), Nico Pang (Associate Director), Zachary Phaneuf (Technical Director), Avery Reagan (Lighting Designer), and Lanae Wilks (Production Stage Manager).
…but you could've held my hand was developed at the 2020 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference with Tony-nominated director Lileana Blain-Cruz and has since been presented at the University of Texas at Austin for a student production in 2022 and at The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio (CATCO) in Columbus in 2023. Known for its commitment to developing new work, IAMA will now stage this workshop production as a vital step in the play's creative evolution. The workshop production will feature new scenes created by Johnson, with a focus on movement and character development, and will invite audience feedback to help shape its next phase.
“My late grandmother once told me, ‘I love you forever, and ever, and ever.' The world can often be a scary place, the task of living, daunting. But when I think about a love that expands into forever, a love that can never truly die, a love poured into me from someone I love, I feel capable of completing another day. In the writing of ...but you could've held my hand, I find myself asking a series of questions: What does it mean to love another person, to be in love with another person? What does it require of me? Is romantic love the top of the food chain? Or does the love I have for my friends/chosen family hold the same weight? Must I save my deepest love for one person, forever and ever, till death do us part? Or can it be spread around among the people I hold dearest? Is there enough or will I always be working at a deficit? What does it mean for love to expand? What does it mean for me to expand?,” explained playwright JuCoby Johnson. “I don't know that I've answered any of them just yet or if I ever will. But the simple act of asking them has changed me. It has altered the way I walk through the world. It has allowed me to expand. In creative partnership with my Best Friend and most frequent collaborator, H. Adam Harris, I invite audiences to bear witness to the love these characters have for one another. A love that leaps through time and endures no matter the obstacles put in its place. I hope that by witnessing such a thing, people feel capable of completing another day. Forever, and ever, and ever.”
…but you could've held my hand will also mark the fifth collaboration between Johnson and Harris as they have previously worked on Johnson's plays 5, Heritage, The Red Man, and How It's Gon' Be. Los Angeles audiences will be the first to experience their collaboration in Southern California before the upcoming world premiere of Three-headed Monster at South Coast Repertory in 2027.
“I'm so happy to be reunited with my Best Friend and longtime collaborator, JuCoby Johnson, for …but you could've held my hand. IAMA Theatre Company was built by friends who wanted to make great art with great people. Since JuCoby's very first play, that has been our mission as well. So this workshop production at IAMA feels like the perfect alignment,” shared director H. Adam Harris. “In …but you could've held my hand, four Black folk, across time and space, fight to love each other despite their own inadequacies. They try to hold one another in this big ole world that wants to squeeze the breath out of them. It is a play. It is a ritual. It is an invitation to make your way back to joy, to vulnerability, and to compassion. JuCoby's writing is epic and intimate, funny and visceral, and bringing it to life onstage is one of my favorite things. Our challenge to each other is always to bring our very best, and we've never let each other down. This here is personal, and I'm so excited to work with the incredible cast, design team, and my Best Friend at IAMA, a company I've long admired.”
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