By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
Invisible Theatre opens it's 44th season asking probing questions of social and cultural significance that will have its audience searching for answers. To be sure, when it comes to introducing a new season this veteran company has never taken the easy way out or shied away from controversial subjects.
"A Kid Like Jake” by upstart playwright Daniel Pearle strikes directly at the heart of gender identity, exploring the conflicted feelings of Jake's parents as four-year-old Jake seems to be inordinately fond of acting like the princesses in Walt Disney's fairytale movies – particularly Cinderella and the Little Mermaid.
There is no mention of Barbie or other iconic females, but after all, Jake is only four. So maybe he is gender-precocious. Or is he going to grow up gay? Heaven forbid! Should his parents be concerned, or should they encourage his interest in identifying with the opposite sex?
They certainly don't want to appear prejudiced against the gay community.
Kevin Black as director has cleverly fashioned a production of many layers, with multiple entrances to get at the juicy implications inside. We never see Jake, but he certainly becomes a sympathetic character as we watch his hyperactive parents, Alex (Lori Hunt) and Greg (also Black).
Hunt has the larger role and does most of the worrying over her young son and his clashes with the liberal activist attitudes of Judy (Cynthia Jeffery) the preschool adviser determined to “help” Alex and Greg decide what to do about Jake's “gender-variant” behavior.
Good old-fashioned parents will be forgiven if they get huffy and insist the whole situation is blown out of proportion. They should just leave the kid alone so he can grow through it by himself.
In today's world of well-educated parents highly motivated to make their children successful every time they step out of the house, the world of a four-year-old is extremely competitive. That is Jake's world.
Hunt is brilliant at conveying this jittery insecurity among way-upscale New Yorkers intent on getting their progeny enrolled in exactly the right private school.
Black counters her polished anxiety with his own finely-tuned answers using the latest stratagems of trendy pop psychology – the kind discussed in the most highly regarded professional publications.
We watch as the play opens on these two characters establishing their frustrated personalities. Then Judy is introduced and instantly identified as an educator with her own activist agenda.
Judy is convinced Jake's gender-variant behavior should be encouraged. Clearly, if Jake is interested in becoming a girl then he should become one. Otherwise his true self will be permanently damaged.
Now...that is just the set-up for “A KID LIKE JAKE.” Every audience member will be drawn into the performance from a different angle. There is more at stake here than differences in parenting style.
If Jake really is pre-homosexual, Alex wants to be supportive. But what if he isn't (not that there is anything wrong with that). She believes Judy is interfering, essentially trying to make Jake's decision for him – and by implication, take Jake away from his parents.
Greg isn't so sure about the subterfuge. Most of the time he just wants to come down on the winning side, whichever side that might be.
Every member of the audience will have a different opinion on who is right, and they will all be correct. That is the richness of this production, and of Pearle's play.
The performance is short, 95 minutes without an intermission. This will leave lots of time afterward for vigorous discussion. Make the most of it.
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