IAMA Theatre Company Announces 2019-20 Season Of New Work

IAMA Theatre Company reconnects to the human heart in 2019-20, the company's 12th season, with three poignant premieres - a drama, a musical and a dark comedy.

Co-artistic directors Stefanie Black and Katie Lowes have curated a season that reminds us all of what it means to be human. "At IAMA, we continue to weave a thread between ourselves and the entire Los Angeles theater community by creating art that challenges us, makes us think and, above all, allows us to feel," they explain. "Connection is one of the most human experiences we can have. Theater is one of the most powerful ways we can connect to a time and place."

In October, IAMA will return to the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at The Pasadena Playhouse for the season opener, the West Coast premiere of A Kid Like Jake by Daniel Pearle. Pearle's acclaimed play about a mother and father trying to do right by their son is a study of intimacy and parenthood, and the fantasies that accompany both. On the eve of the admissions cycle for New York City kindergartens, Alex and Greg have high hopes for their son Jake, a precocious four-year-old who happens to prefer Cinderella to G.I. Joe. But, as the process continues, Jake's behavior becomes erratic and perplexing, and other adults in his life start to wonder whether his fondness for dress-up might be cause for concern. Directed by Jennifer Chambers. (Opens Oct. 3, with performances continuing through Nov. 3; previews begin Sept. 28)

February will see the West Coast premiere of a new musical, title and location TBA. IAMA can't announce the name of the production just yet - but expect a raucous and insightful new musical that celebrates the weirdness in all of us. (Opens Feb. 20, with performances continuing through March 23; previews begin Feb. 14.)

Finally, May brings the company to Atwater Village Theatre with the world premiere of The Untitled Baby Play by Nina Braddock. In this new comedy about private identity, persona projection, the agony of life choices and female friendship, six women use email to plan a baby shower for their mutual friend - catapulting each into respective existential spirals about fertility, motherhood and purpose. Directed by Katie Lindsay. (Opens May 14, with performances continuing through June 15; previews begin May 8.)

In addition, IAMA will present a New Works Festival of staged readings Nov.14 through Nov. 17 at downtown's Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Designated by Playbill as "one of 20 regional houses every theater lover must know," IAMA Theatre Company is a Los Angeles-based ensemble of artists committed to invigorating live performance for a streaming generation. Through cutting-edge, cool and hyper-modern stories, IAMA is invested in the immediacy of production and strives to bring audiences out of their personal space and into a shared experience. Since its founding in 2007, the Ovation Award winning company has seen many plays generated at IAMA travel to off-Broadway, Second Stage and the Roundabout Underground, then go on to be performed regionally and internationally. IAMA members have been featured in numerous critically acclaimed TV shows and films as well as in a vast array of theater and live performances all over the country; last fall, IAMA co-artistic director Katie Lowes and her husband, founding IAMA company member Adam Shapiro, made their Broadway debuts in Waitress. In 2017, TV producer and creator Shonda Rhimes announced that she would become IAMA's first-ever "Patron of the Arts" with a generous endowment from the Rhimes Family Foundation. On September 9, IAMA will co-host the fifth annual Stage Raw Awards ceremony.

For more information about IAMA Theatre Company's 2019-20 season, call 323-380-8843 or go to www.iamatheatre.co

 

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