Just Like Us at Los Angeles Theatre Center

Latino Theater Company opens its 40th Anniversary Season with the professional West Coast premiere of a non-fiction play by Karen Zacarías, inspired by the bestselling book of the same name. Reporter Helen Thorpe follows the lives of four Latina girls in Denver who straddle two worlds: Clara and Elissa hold legal documents, while Yadira and Marisela do not. Against the odds, each finds her way into a good college, but the hurdles only mount from there. Student loans are not an option when you don’t have a Social Security number, and if your parents face deportation, your siblings may be moving into your dorm. This true coming-of-age story is more timely now than ever, posing difficult, yet essential questions about what makes us American. Latino Theater Company at The Los Angeles Theatre Center (The LATC), 514 S Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; (213) 489-0994; www.latinotheaterco.org

April 10-May 18 (including previews)
• Thursdays at 8 p.m.
• Fridays at 8 p.m.
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.
• Sundays at 4 p.m.