Untitled Baby Play at Atwater Village Theatre

Six women find themselves trapped on an email chain as they plan their friend's baby shower when IAMA Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Untitled Baby Play by Nina Braddock May 26 through June 27 at Atwater Village Theatre.Libby is having a baby, and a group of friends is planning her shower over email. What starts out as a comedy of manners for the digital age deepens as her longtime friends from childhood and college deal with cyber miscommunications and email chain snubs, even as they face their own existential angst surrounding the baby question.Vying for control of the shower are childhood best friend Penny and college best friend Meredith, who disagree on all the basic details of the party. Eden and Gillian have also known Libby since elementary school, but their own ambivalence over motherhood and desire to keep the peace leaves Penny fighting her battles solo. Rounding out the group are Libbys other college friends Natalia, an actress who becomes creatively inspired by What to Expect When You're Expecting, and Clara, a new mom who is doing her best to keep up with her friends.I decided to work untitled into the title of the play because each of these women is very much in process, both in terms of where they are choosing to find meaning in their lives and in regards to the motherhood question, explains Braddock. When I hit my thirties, I noticed that, as my friends and I started to make different career and life choices, the nature of our friendships began to change. How do you remain close when your friends lives start to look very different from your own because you each have different priorities? Friendship is always a work in progressa little messy and a little chaotic. And even though we are all so busyor tell ourselves we areits so important to carve out time and space to appreciate what your friends value, and what gratifies them. I hope this play reminds people of the need for that. Untitled Baby Play, like friendship, is not always tidily or traditionally structured. The development of this play with IAMA has been extensive, Braddock says. We spent a year working on it with this amazing cast, and they have enriched it enormously.Untitled Baby Play opens on Thursday, May 26 at 8 p.m., with performances thereafter on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 8 p.m., and on Sundays at 3 p.m. through June 27 (dark Monday, May 30). Two preview performances take place on Tuesday, May 24 and Wednesday, May 25, each at 8 p.m. All tickets are $35, except May 26 (opening night) for which tickets are $40 and include a post performance reception, and previews, which are $20. Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039. Free parking is available in the ATX (Atwater Crossing) lot one block south of the theater. For reservations and information, call 323-380-8843 or go to www.iamatheatre.com.