Like Father
A true-crime podcast unearths a family’s past, forcing them to confront identity, legacy, and the consequences of obsession.
Created by Jacob Ryan Smith
By Jacob Ryan Smith & Caroline Pernick
Choreography by Dell Howlett
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Produced by Special Arrangement with Westway Studios
Like Father is a coming-of-age musical set against America’s true-crime obsession. After her father’s arrest, seventeen-year-old Chris moves in with her estranged mother, Michelle, and stepfather, Ben. When a hit true-crime podcast exposes their family's disturbing past to the world, they are forced to face the truth of what brought them together, or risk being undone by its consequences.
Driven by a bold, innovative folk-pop score, Like Father explores legacy, identity, and the cost of obsession, inspired by the loved ones left in the wake of infamous serial killers—and by the true-crime industry’s meteoric rise to over 250 million listeners worldwide.
Like Father was a semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill New Music Theater Festival and emerged as the winner of the inaugural Open Jar Musical Shark Tank.
Hertz Stage
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A Coming-of-Age Musical by Jacob Ryan Smith and Caroline Pernick
OCT 8 – NOV 15, 2026
A true-crime podcast unearths a family’s past, forcing them to confront identity, legacy, and the consequences of obsession.
Created by Jacob Ryan Smith
By Jacob Ryan Smith & Caroline Pernick
Choreography by Dell Howlett
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Produced by Special Arrangement with Westway Studios
Like Father is a coming-of-age musical set against America’s true-crime obsession. After her father’s arrest, seventeen-year-old Chris moves in with her estranged mother, Michelle, and stepfather, Ben. When a hit true-crime podcast exposes their family’s disturbing past to the world, they are forced to face the truth of what brought them together, or risk being undone by its consequences.
Driven by a bold, innovative folk-pop score, Like Father explores legacy, identity, and the cost of obsession, inspired by the loved ones left in the wake of infamous serial killers—and by the true-crime industry’s meteoric rise to over 250 million listeners worldwide.
Like Father was a semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill New Music Theater Festival and emerged as the winner of the inaugural Open Jar Musical Shark Tank.
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