"Kimberly Akimbo"

July 6, 2017 — Kimberly (Kim Lajoie), suffering from a rapid aging disease, is 16 years old and near the end of her life expectancy. Her mother, Pattie (Carey Cahoon) is pregnant, unable to use her cast-bound hands after carpal tunnel surgery, and as if that weren't enough, she's a hypochondriac who's convinced she has cancer and diabetes and hasn't long to live. Kimberly's dad, Buddy (B. Christopher Williams) is an alcoholic. Intruding in their chaotic life is Debra (Emily Jones), a homeless person and career criminal.

Could a play about such woefully damaged people be a comedy? It certainly is, thanks to author David Lindsay-Abaire's skillful treatment. Matt Cahoon, director of this performance for Jean's Playhouse in Lincoln, New Hampshire, more than does justice to Lindsay-Abaire's work.

Much of the dialog is hilarious and the situations absurd, but there's an undercurrent of heartbreak in this story of a dysfunctional family of meager means in a dingy suburban New Jersey apartment. Kimberly, a teenager in the body of a woman more than four times her age, is in an increasingly fragile condition. Her mother, loud, profane and self-absorbed, is unsympathetic toward her daughter, or anyone but herself for that matter. Buddy, thoughtless due to his drinking, can destroy his daughter's self-worth with insensitive comments and neglect, but is capable of feeling remorse in rare moments of sympathy.

Into Kimberly's life comes Jeff (Jordan Gross), a geeky school-mate who at first has a scientific interest in Kimberly's condition and wishes to interview her for a school report. But they discover they're kindred spirits, both outcasts, she due to her disease and he because of his nerdy personality. A romantic attachment gradually grows.

But Debra has a money-making scheme, illegal of course, that she convinces Kimberly and Jeff to participate in, in spite of their initial reluctance. Everything is ready to go, but Kimberly, increasingly frail, collapses at the end of Act 1.

A few weeks have gone by as Act 2 begins. Pattie, still pregnant, hands still in casts, is now hobbling around with a broken ankle she suffered when she ducked out for a smoke and fell off a loading dock at the hospital where she was visiting Kimberly after her heart attack. Kimberly is now home almost recovered. Debra is urging her to join her and Jeff as they execute their plan. It's around this time Kimberly learns of an unforgivable scheme her parents carried out to avoid any chance of having another child with Kimberly's handicap.

I was pleased to see Cary Cahoon, a founding member of theatre KAPOW whose productions I've enjoyed many times. Her role as the crude, unlovable Pattie was a tour de force. All the actors were good, but Cahoon and Lajoie as Kimberly were outstanding.

Can a story about such afflicted, unhappy people on a seemingly unstoppable race to disaster have a happy ending? You just don't know what to expect in Lindsay-Abaire's whacky, unpredictable play.