World Premiere of Neil Simon’s ‘Jake’s Women’ Set in San Diego

The Old Globe Theatre will present “Jake’s Women,” its second world premiere of a Neil Simon play in two years, March 8-April 15. Ron Link, known in Los Angeles for his kinetic stagings of “Bouncers” and “Stand-Up Tragedy,” will direct.

The Simon play is one of six productions announced for the winter/spring season at the Old Globe.

Preceding “Jake’s Women” on the mainstage Jan. 11-Feb. 18 will be Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” directed by Jack O’Brien, the Old Globe’s artistic director. Following “Jake’s Women” will be the West Coast premiere of Lee Blessing’s “Cobb,” about baseball great Ty Cobb, tentatively slated for May 3-June 10. A production of the Yale Repertory Theatre, “Cobb” will be directed by Yale’s Lloyd Richards.

The season at the 225-seat Cassius Carter Centre Stage will open Jan. 6 with Roberto M. Cossa’s “The Granny,” a black comedy about a family in depressed Argentina, playing through Feb. 18. It went through a workshop earlier this year in the Latino Play Discovery Series, a project of the Old Globe’s Teatro Meta.

The West Coast premiere of Mark Lee’s “Rebel Armies Deep Into Chad,” about two arrogant journalists in an African region torn with violence, will occur March 3-April 15 on the smaller stage. It will be followed by Lanie Robertson’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” April 28-June 10. This show, about singer Billie Holiday, was seen in 1987 at the Hollywood Playhouse.

Simon’s “Jake’s Women” continues the semi-autobiographical tradition of the playwright’s “Chapter 2” and the trilogy of “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound” with the story of a middle-aged writer and six of the most important women in his life--his analyst, his sister, his daughter, his wife, his ex-wife and a friend. It was supposed to be Simon’s first world premiere at the Old Globe last year, but when the show wasn’t ready, Simon’s farce “Rumors” was substituted. “Rumors” went from San Diego to Broadway.