Theatre Palisades and director Cate Caplin have another winner on their hands with Kimberly Akimbo, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s quirky comedy about a soon-to-turn-16-year-old who’s got more on her plate than your average high schooler.

After all, how many teenagers do you know who are saddled with an alcoholic dad, a malady-plagued mom, and a con artist aunt?

And how many of them not only have all this on their plates but live inside a body that’s aging so quickly that Kimberly Levaco’s (Dey Young) upcoming sixteenth birthday may well be her last?

All of the above could just as easily have added up to a family tearjerker a la Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole, but 2000’s Kimberly Akimbo packs in an abundance of laughs as our feisty heroine confronts her not-so-perfect life as only she can.

Pregnant mom Pattie (Abigail Stewart) may have double carpal tunnel syndrome among other real or more likely imagined ills, and dad Buddy (Bradley Holzer) may drink more than just “a few beers” before heading home to a nagging wife and a daughter who might not be around all that much longer. but on the decidedly plus side…

Kim has just met a nerdy-cute boy named Jeff (Zakary Risinger) who’d like nothing better than to get to know her, and not just because her disease would make a perfect topic for his biology class assignment.

Then comes the day that Kim’s wayward Aunt Debra (Sallie Eskins) shows up fresh from a few months of living in a squat and armed with scam that can score her a ton of cash provided Kim and Jeff agree to be her accomplices, and things are about to get even wilder and wackier than they’ve been.

Leave it to multiple Tony winner David Lindsay-Abaire to take a disease-of-the week premise, stir in the whimsy that made his Wonder of the World and Fuddy Meers such unique treats, and come up with a play as funny and moving as Kimberly Akimbo, and leave it to Cate Caplin to not only direct it with nuance and flair but to cast it so pitch-perfectly, even actors cast against type seem born to play their roles.

Quintessential girl-next-door Stewart is a revelation as the self-absorbed, hypochondriacal, four-letter-word-spouting Pattie, and you’d never guess that Holzer’s beer-drinking, barely coping blue-collar Buddy was being played by the same actor who oozed urbanity and charm in It’s Only A Play and Listing.

Risinger may be that rarity (a bona fide teen playing a teenager) but the gym buff LACHSA student’s transformation into the shy, awkward nerd that is Jeff is equally remarkable, and Eskins pretty much steals every scene she’s in as bold and brassy con artist Aunt Debra.

Still there’d be no Kimberly Akimbo without its Kimberly, and Young is not only absolute perfection as the bright, funny, eternally optimistic Kim but you totally buy into Risinger’s Jeff seeing her as the cute, bubbly 16-year-old she is despite the character’s rapid physical aging. (As to why Kimberly suddenly shows up in Act Two sporting a perky silver-toned pigtailed Judi Lewin-designed wig, it’s up to the audience to try to figure that one out.)

Michael Mullen’s costumes suit each character to a T, sound designer Christiam “Gama” Franco provides between-scene underscoring along with assorted effects, Clayton Collins’ indoor lighting is effective if too dim for my tastes, and Sherman Wayne’s set is appropriately blue-collar (as are Maria O’Connor’s properties) and features a cleverly designed set piece that transforms (albeit time-consumingly) from car to book shelf and back.

Best of all are Nick Santiago’s chalk-drawn projections, which fill in the blanks in what would otherwise be a stark black-walled backdrop and turn the Odyssey Theatre playing area into a suburban home, a school library, and more, in addition to providing some delightful animated backdrops along the way.

Kimberly Akimbo is produced by Martha Hunter, Sherman Wayne, and Phil Bartolf. Glenda Morgan Jackson has coached the cast’s thick New Jersey accents and in addition to Kimberly’s wig, Lewin has designed hair and makeup. Craig Hissong is associate lighting designer. Isabella DiBernardino is wardrobe and makeup assistant. Jacob Garcia is stage manager and Kayla Balikyan is assistant stage manager.

Contemporary audiences may know Kimberly Akimbo from its Best Musical Tony-winning adaptation of a few years back, but even minus that show’s additional teens and catchy songs, David Lindsay-Abaire’s original play holds up very well indeed as this terrifically acted and directed revival makes abundantly and delightfully clear.

Theatre Palisades at the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles. Through August 30. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30. Sundays at 2:00.

–Steven Stanley
August 15, 2026
Photos: Nicola Buck

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: David Lindsay-Abaire, Los Angeles Theater Review, Odyssey Theatre, Theatre Palisades