EXCLUSIVE: New Musical LIKE FATHER Will Have World Premiere At Alliance Theatre This Fall
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Looks like we will be packing our bags for Atlanta! Today, it was announced that the bold new musical Like Father from Theatrely31 alum Jacob Ryan Smith and Caroline Pernick will have its world premiere production at Georgia’s Alliance Theatre.
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden (The Preacher’s Wife), Like Father will run on the Hertz Stage beginning in October of this year. Tickets will be available as part of a season ticket package in March and individually beginning in May.
This coming-of-age musical is set against America’s true-crime obsession. After her father’s arrest, seventeen-year-old Chris moves in with her estranged mother, Michelle, and stepfather, Ben. When a hit true-crime podcast exposes their family's disturbing past to the world, they are forced to face the truth of what brought them together, or risk being undone by its consequences.
Driven by a bold, innovative folk-pop score, Like Father explores legacy, identity, and the cost of obsession, inspired by the loved ones left in the wake of infamous serial killers—and by the true-crime industry’s meteoric rise to over 250 million listeners worldwide.
“At its core, Like Father is about learning to live beyond the shadows we inherit—a journey through grief, forgiveness, and the radical act of reclaiming your own name,” said Kajese-Bolden. “It’s a surprising, darkly funny, deeply human story that speaks to so many of us reckoning with the weight of our histories and the hope of transformation. New work like this needs room to take risks, and regional theaters are where those stories are given oxygen; I’m thrilled to work alongside artists and producing partners with an unflinching belief in bold, emotionally intelligent storytelling, and proud that the Alliance is a national home where artists are trusted to push boundaries, deepen our empathy, and imagine what’s possible.”
The show was a semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill New Music Theater Festival and emerged as the winner of the inaugural Open Jar Musical Shark Tank.
Additional creative team members include Dell Howlett as choreographer, Alejandro Senior as music director. Rachel Sabo-Hedges as assistant director, Adam Beskind as associate music director. Casting is by Kevin Metzger-Timson, CSA and Frankie Ramirez, CSA from the TRC Company.
Casting details and specific performance dates will be announced in the coming months. The musical’s commercial producers are Howard Alter, Zachary Hausman, and Madison Thompson. Co-producers include Caryl & Kendrick Smith, City Cowboy Productions, Fahs Productions, Happy Recap Productions, Jonathan & Rae Corr, Kerri Mandelbaum, and Steven N. Lerner.
