A girl a little like Lolita grows up in Jobsite Theater's 'Blackbird'

Paul Potenza and Caitlin Eason are Ray and Una in Blackbird, a drama by David Harrower about a pedophile and his victim, 15 years after the crime. Sometimes compared to Lolita, Harrower's play has been widely produced since its 2005 premiere at the Edinburgh Festival, and there are plans to make it into a movie.

The Scottish playwright describes Blackbird as the story of a middle-aged man and a young woman who had a taboo relationship when she was 12 and he was 40. "It's about what happens when she comes to seek him out,'' Harrower said in an interview with the British Theatre Guide. "It is a love story about two people who have been through a life-changing event together."

Jobsite Theater's staging of Blackbird, directed by Karla Hartley, opens tonight and runs through Sept. 28 at Shimberg Playhouse of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday. $24.50. (813) 229-7827; jobsitetheater.org.