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Peer Reviews Kimberly Akimbo A review by Kevin F. Temple Entire contents are copyright © 2007 Kevin F. Temple. All rights reserved.
Founded in 1991, The Necessary Theatre (TNT) was established to encourage local playwrights, and to give them a place in the Louisville area. In its latest offering, Kimberly, played by Laurene Scalf, lives a life filled with complications, from a recovering alcoholic father, a deeply depressed and perhaps bipolar mother, and an aunt that's perhaps a lunatic, to friends at school that want to know why she has been aging four and a half times faster than everyone else. The characters in the play Kimberly Akimbo, written by David Lindsay-Abaire, are perfectly fitted. Andrew Pyle (Buddy) starts off as a convincing alcoholic, then progresses very smoothly throughout the play, from the sarcastic husband to the caring father of Kimberly. He makes you laugh with his subtle comments to and at his wife, as he adds nickels to the jar. Pattie, his wife (played by Susan Schumate), is rough. If pregnant women normally behaved as she does, then I too would have been driven to drinking like Buddy. Susan’s antics and harshness, as portrayed through her character (I hope they were in character), were hilarious. From the pain of pregnancy to the recordings she is gathering for her yet-to-be-born child, she keeps the family and audience on their toes as she too adds many many nickels to the jar. Debra, the perhaps-lunatic aunt (played by Becky LeCron Poschinger), reminds me of the aunt I never wanted -- always in the face of people, and about as smooth and nice as rubbing alcohol on open wounds. While her ideas of raising money are completely unorthodox, her attitude and love for Kimberly are seen throughout. She too keeps the audience on their toes, wondering, "Is this lady for real?" Jeff (played by Travis Duvall) is Kimberly's classmate and chose Kimberly as the subject of his science project, in between making anagrams of everyone’s names and killing people off in a harsh game of Dungeons and Dragons. He befriends Kimberly, and through a series of conversations and outings, they find that their friendship has blossomed into something more. Laurene Scalf, as Kimberly, shows all that could be shown through emotion and actions. Her character's age and mannerisms are what is expected of a 16-year-old. Laurene sells the part. The MeX theatre is a wonderful place to hold such a performance, and allows the audience to feel as close as a fly on the wall of this family as they work out their troubles. Another reason to see the show (other than that it's beautiful) is to find out why the characters are putting nickels in a jar -- some people need bigger jars than others. When I first saw the show, knowing little about it, I thought it was odd seeing Kimberly looking a bit older than the rest. I was initially led to believe that the director had made a casting snafu. But I’ve been wrong before and, well, I was again. The truth be told, the director made a perfect cast, and the cast makes a perfect show.
Kimberly Akimbo Performed at Kentucky Center for the Arts (MeX
Theatre) Oct. 4-13, 2007 Posted Oct. 7, 2007
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