Daniel Pearle's A Kid Like Jake Earns Laurents/Hatcher Award; LCT3 Will Produce

By Adam Hetrick
29 Jan 2013

Daniel Pearle
Daniel Pearle

Playwright Daniel Pearle's A Kid Like Jake has been named the recipient of the 2013 Laurents/Hatcher Award, according to the New York Times. 

Named in honor of late Tony Award-winning playwright Arthur Laurents (Gypsy, West Side Story, Home of the Brave, "The Way We Were") and his late parter Tom Hatcher, the annual award provides the winning playwright with a $50,000 cash prize and $100,000 in funding towards the production cost of the play's premiere, which must take place within a year of the award's announcement.

A Kid Like Jake, which centers on a young boy with a passion for Cinderella and playing dress up, is the first play to have a production in place at the time of the Laurents/Hatcher Award announcement.

As first reported in October 2012, Evan Cabnet (The Performers) will stage the production for Lincoln Center Theater's developmental initiative LCT3 from June 2-24 at the Claire Tow Theater.

According to LCT3, "Alex and Greg want only the best for their precocious four year-old, Jake. When they apply to New York's elite private schools, part of what makes Jake special – his passion for Cinderella and dress-up – starts to cause concern. The story of a husband and wife trying to do right by their son, A Kid Like Jake explores the unexpected challenges of marriage and parenting in the high-octane, competitive world of Manhattan privilege."

Pearle's plays also include Bel Canto and Tearin' Up My Heart.

Jeff Talbott's play The Submission was the inaugural recipient of the Laurents/Hatcher Award. It was produced by MCC Theater in the fall of 2011. The 2012 honor went to Jon Kern's Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want To Kill Us and How We Learn To Love Them, which was produced by Second Stage Theatre in fall 2012.

Visit LCT3.org.