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Kimberly Akimbo: And you think you have hard times, try being the star in this dark comedy

Kimberly Akimbo: And you think you have hard times, try being the star in this dark comedy
by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid - SGN A&E Writer Kimberly Akimbo, Directed by David Hsieh. Starring Diane Felty, Roberta Plonski, Adam Sewall, Ellen Dessler and Michael Scott through May 29. Langston Hughes Cultural Center When the climax scene that is the culmination of many little feuds finally does happen in Kimberly Akimbo, you can be sure, it is a pull out all the stops dramatic scene. And no, no one wins, and there isnt a necessarily happy ending after that scene, but there is a sense of resolution. Just not a positive resolution. The play, staged by the Repertory Actors Theatre, is a mixture of darkest comedy, and what could almost be called tragedy, except for the fact that everyone in the play seems perfectly comfortable in their miserable lot. Almost. And everyone knows the role they play in this very dysfunctional East Coast family, to the point that at times its almost hard to really feel sorry for them. But there is definitely a sense of doom about their actions and their arguments, which have decayed into old history being rehashed more for effect than to actually hurt. Though, yes, Kimberlys mother is clearly hurt every time her husband (Roberta Plonski and Adam Sewall) comes home late, drunk again. And Kimberly, who suffers from a rare disease that ages her four times faster than other people, is clearly hurt by the fact that her mother has taken a chance to perfect what went wrong with Kimberlys birth by having another child. One could think of Kimberly Akimbo as a weird kind of dance that the dancers have done so many times even exhaustion with the sameness of the moves doesnt make them stop. Everyone orbits Kimberlys deteriorating condition and her mothers pregnancy, alternately snarling and then apologizing for their bad behavior, but not being able to prevent themselves from repeating the cycle. So, when the climax does come and Kimberly blows up at her mother, who happens to be in the process of labor, one is appalled, but not surprised, and it might surprise you if you find yourself sympathizing not with Kimberly, but with her clearly suffering mother. I know it shocked me that I wanted to slap the daughter for choosing that moment to harangue her mother for a litany of wrongs, instead of helping get her mom to a hospital to continue her labor. Such is the strange dance of this play, which is not a happy story, so much as a view of one familys dirty laundry and how they deal with it in a variety of very unhealthy ways. And I have to add, it is very well-acted by the cast director David Hsieh has assembled, particularly actors Ellen Dessler as Kimberlys amoral sister and Roberta Plonski as Kims hypochondriac, pregnant mother. Go see it before it closes. For tickets, call (206) 364-3283.