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[Eventbrite]
A new play centering around two Pasadena icons will premiere at 7 p.m. on May 30 at John Muir High School.
The free, one-night-only, production of Jackie & Julia wonders what if two Pasadena residents, Jackie Robinson and Julia Child, had met in the 1930s and later in life.
The play will grace the stage of Jackie Robinson’s alma mater, John Muir High School.
The three-scene, one-act play will feature both professionals and Muir Theatrical Studies students in a community of collaborators which includes Brian Brophy of Theater Arts at California Institute of Technology, M. Cantu of Lineage Performing Arts Center and Lawton Gray of John Muir High School Early College Magnet.
The play began to take shape several years ago after award-winning filmmaker Pablo Miralles was struck by the number of biographies written about two local 20th century icons, Jackie Robinson and Julia Child, and pondered if the two might have ever met while growing up a few miles apart in depression era Pasadena.
The result was the fictional teleplay, Jackie & Julia.
Acting on the advice of Tom Costen of the Light Bringer Project, Pablo submitted the script as a theatrical piece to the City of Pasadena for their Arts & Culture Commission’s Individual Artist Grant.
To his surprise, Miralles received a grant that would cover a portion of the play’s projected budget.
An online fundraiser to raise the remaining funds has been launched with the help of the John Muir High School Alumni Association. Tax-deductible donations can be made here: https://jmhsaa.square.site/
Free tickets for the one-night-only event can be found at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
Miralles is also directing the play. To add to the special nature of this event, the play will be performed in the theater where Pablo had once been the Student Technical Director as part of the Muir Stage Crew. He has help from other former Mustangs, John Guth ‘81 will assist in Music and Sound and classmate Holland Milsap ‘82 will be leading the costume department. The play is being produced by one of Miralles’ earliest collaborators from his independent film work, Lu Cien Hioe.
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