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Jake's Women at All An Act: Love, Loss, and Imagination
Neil Simon dramedy explores the nature of complex human relationships
November 3, 2023 at 7:00 AM
Contributed
Local actors David W. Michell (as Jake) and Jessica LaFlamme (as Maggie) take to the All An Act stage with Neil Simon's timeless classic Jake's Women throughout November.
PREMIERING FRIDAY, NOV. 10
In Jake's Women, which premiered in 1992, playwright Neil Simon introduces audiences to Jake — a work-obsessed writer who is just beginning a trial separation with his second wife, Maggie. It seems that though his creativity has soared throughout his career, his intimate relationships with all the women in his life — his sister, his deceased first wife, his therapist, and even his daughter — have suffered. As a result, Jake engages in both real and imagined conversations with these women, but the line between what's real and imagined begins to blur.
Bringing this play to the stage is Erie's own All An Act Theater, located in the heart of the Little Italy neighborhood. It will run each weekend starting on Nov. 10 and ending Dec. 3. The play stars Lisa Simonian, Amy Welker Rowe, Jessica LaFlamme, Tori Snyder, Shantel Kay, Amanda Hill and Aubree Dick, with David W. Mitchell pulling double duty as both actor and director.
Simonian, who plays Edith, Jake's therapist, said, "As [Jake] thinks of the women in his life, they appear as his thoughts made manifest." She continues, "Edith pushes him very hard to find the truths which will help him move forward — and Jake is very resistant to learning them."
Jake's Women is dramedy at its finest, as the titular character, through conversations with "his women," peels back the layers of emotion that he has neglected throughout the decades — though seemingly at the cost of his sanity. Simonian expressed, "Neil Simon is one of the greatest storytellers, and I hope that our audiences will laugh a little, sigh a little, and go home thinking about the very tenacious bonds which hold our relationships together."
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. // All An Act Theatre, 652 W. 17th St. // $5-$18 // For tickets and info: allanact.net