BWW Reviews: KIMBERLY AKIMBO at 2nd Story Theatre

As with Fuddy Meers, which was part of 2^nd Story's 2008 season, in Kimberly Akimbo, David Lindsay-Abaire takes an unfunny ailment, in this case a condition "like progeria without the dwarfism", and builds a perverse comedy around it. Lindsay-Abaire doesn't make light of the ailment, but casts a critical eye to peoples' reaction to it.

Kimberly (Lynne Collinson) is a teenager, who ages at 4 1/2 times the normal rate. As she reaches 16, a milestone in anyone's life, she also reaches the average life expectancy for people with progeria. Though she went through menopause at 12, Kimberly is still waiting for her first kiss, which may come from her adorably nebbish, anagram-loving, classmate, Jeff, effortlessly played by Will Valles. Youthful in spirit and wise beyond here years, Kimberly is literally 16 going on 75.

Her parents, played by Wayne Kneeland as Buddy and Laura Sorensen as Pattie have neither the skill nor desire to be more than working poor. They cannot live with the guilt of having passed on this genetic condition with their daughter. So they ignore it and ignore her and try to dull the pain through distractions, including booze and surgery. Pattie, Kimberly's mom, is pregnant for a second time and is actively preparing for their life after the baby is born and after Kimberly has died.

Kimberly's Aunt Debra, played by Amy Thompson, has rejoined the family in their apartment in Bogota, NJ after completing her most recent stint in jail and finding out that the family had made a hasty move from their recent home in Secaucus, NJ. Debra is ambitious and always looking for an angle, legal or not. Her most recent scheme calls for 16 year old Kimberly to dress up as a grandmother and take Jeff, posing as her grandson, to cash some stolen, washed, and re-written checks.

Lynne Collinson makes the most of out this fascinating role and cements Kimberly as the emotional center of this family, even as she is being ignored. Under Mark Peckham's direction, the chemistry between Collinson and newcomer Will Valles is breezy and delightful.

Wayne Kneeland and Laura Sorenson are appropriately disturbing in their respective parent-as-child roles. The frustration, lack of self-worth and resignation to a life of limited options, comes across authentically, if elevated. A nice, stylistic touch for Sorenson was the decision to match her eye shadow to the same Sesame Street Blue of her furry slippers.

In Kimberly Akimbo, comedy, like obscenity can be elusive enough as to know it when you see it even if you can't quite pin down the exact elements. Most of what an audience expects as "traditional" comedy is contained in the role of Debra. Amy Thompson gives a skillful performance in what could be a supporting role and makes it a place-marker for comedy. When events in the play get too depressing or distressing, Thompson is there to remind the audience that Kimberly Akimbo, is, in fact, a comedy.

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Kimberly Akimbo plays at 2^nd Story Theatre through October 24, 2010. Tickets are $27 and can be purchased at the Box Office, which is located at 28 Market St., Warren, RI, by phone at (401) 247-4200 or visit www.2ndstorytheatre.com for more information.

Photo: (l-r) Lynne Collinson as Kimberly, Will Valles as Jeff, and Wayne Kneeland as Buddy

Photo Credit: 2ndStory/Richard W. Dionne, Jr.

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