Emmy-nominated writer and playwright Janine Nabers is bringing her darkly funny new play The Peterson Show to Los Angeles for its world premiere. Directed by Michelle Bossy, the production opens September 19 and runs through October 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, with Pay-What-You-Want preview performances September 16 through 18.
The play follows five former child stars who reunite in Los Angeles 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, asking what happens to a family when the person who held it together becomes the one who tears it apart.
The ensemble cast includes Kelly McCreary (Grey’s Anatomy) as Blaire, John Clarence Stewart (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, P-Valley) as Elliott, Tamberla Perry (Brilliant Minds) as Ronika, Kristen Ariza (The Fosters) as Zoey, Deanna Reed-Foster (The Vince Staples Show) as Valerie and Devere Rogers (Chicken & Biscuits on Broadway) as Dwight. Journee Rose (Abbott Elementary) makes her introduction as Young Ronika.
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, intimacy coordinator Megan Prahl and choreography by Patrick McCollom. Chris Fields and Meghan McEnery produce for the Echo Theater Company.
Nabers is known for co-creating and executive producing Prime Video’s Swarm with Donald Glover, which won the 2024 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Limited Series and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series. She also served as co-executive producer on FX’s Atlanta, won a WGA Award for HBO’s Watchmen and has written for Away at Netflix, Dietland at AMC and Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce at Bravo. Her previous plays include Serial Black Face, which won the Yale Drama Series prize, Annie Bosh Is Missing, A Swell in the Ground and Welcome to Jesus. A Houston native, she is a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship at Juilliard.
The Peterson Show runs September 19 through October 26 at Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles.