THE PETERSON SHOW to Open at Echo Theater Company

The Echo Theater Company will present the world premiere of The Peterson Show, a darkly funny, emotionally charged new play by Emmy-nominated playwright Janine Nabers. Directed by Michelle Bossy, The Peterson Show opens September 19 and runs through October 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, with Pay-What-You-Want preview performances September 16–18.

Featuring an ensemble cast that includes Kelly McCreary (Grey's Anatomy), Tamberla Perry (Brilliant Minds, Clydes at the Mark Taper Forum) and John Clarence Stewart (Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, Brilliant Minds, P-Valley) alongside Kristen Ariza (The Fosters, StartUp), Deanna Reed-Foster (The Vince Staples Show, The First Deep Breath at the Geffen), Devere Rogers (Broadway's Chicken & Biscuits, Gloria at the Echo) and Journee Rose (Abbott Elementary), The Peterson Show follows five former child stars who reunite as the legacy of their beloved television father collapses into scandal. With cameras swarming outside and decades of unresolved history inside, they confront old rivalries, buried secrets and the complicated bonds forged while growing up on America's favorite sitcom.

At once hilarious and heartbreaking, The Peterson Show raises a difficult question: What happens to a family when the person who held it together becomes the one who tears it apart?

“I've always been drawn to provocative, unapologetic stories that wrestle with difficult truths and refuse easy answers,” says Nabers. “The Peterson Show asks whether we can hold two truths at once: that someone can profoundly shape your life while also causing devastating harm. Can we celebrate groundbreaking cultural achievements while refusing to ignore the pain left behind? And what does accountability actually look like when the people involved are family? These are no longer abstract questions. These are questions our culture is wrestling with every day.”

Like every family reunion, everyone in The Peterson Show arrives carrying old wounds, old resentments and old secrets—yet each is searching for love, acceptance and a way forward.

The creative team includes scenic designer Michael Paul Kramer, lighting designer Matthew Richter, sound designer Jesse Mandapat, video designer Shea Vanderpoort, Costume Designer Wendell C. Carmichael and intimacy coordinator Megan Prahl. Choreography is by Patrick McCollom. The production stage manager is Erin Newsom. Chris Fields and Meghan McEnery produce for the Echo Theater Company.

Nabers is an Emmy-nominated writer, playwright, producer and showrunner whose television work includes co-creating and executive producing Swarm with Donald Glover. The series won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Limited Series, and Nabers earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series. Her credits also include Atlanta, Watchmen, Away, Dietland, UnREAL and Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce. As a playwright, she became the first Black woman to receive the Yale Drama Series Prize for Serial Black Face. She is a graduate of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship.

Founded in 1997, the Echo Theater Company has built a reputation for producing and developing adventurous new work. Under the artistic leadership of Chris Fields, the company has produced and commissioned numerous world premieres and introduced Los Angeles to playwrights including David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp and Sarah Ruhl. The Echo has won multiple Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Ovation, LA Weekly and Stage Raw awards, and is frequently cited on end-of-the-year “Best” lists. The LA Weekly named the Echo the “Best Bet for Ballsy Original Plays,” and a “Kilroy Cake Drop” honored the company's efforts to produce women and trans writers. KCRW declared that “Echo Theater Company is on a fierce journey,” and Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty called it “the most vital center for offbeat drama in Los Angeles.” The Echo was honored by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle with the prestigious Margaret Harford Award for “Excellence In Theatre.”

The Peterson Show opens on Saturday, Sept. 19, with performances continuing through October 26 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. (no performance Saturday, Oct. 3). An additional performance will be held on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, Sept. 16; Thursday, Sept. 17; and Friday, Sept. 18, each at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $50.

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