[1][2] Its title character is a lonely teenage girl suffering from a disease similar to progeria, that causes her to age four and a half times as fast as normal, thus trapping her inside the frail physical body of an elderly woman.
She meets another misfit (a teenage boy) and the two form an attachment to one another that borders on attraction, but their situation is not helped by Kimberly's rapidly deteriorating health.
Outside of an ice rink, Kimberly sits, waiting for her father, Buddy, who is late picking her up because he was out drinking.
Pattie, Kimberly's hypochondriac mother, is trying to work a tape recorder, which she struggles with due to large bandages on her hands from surgery.
Buddy attempts to reconcile forgetting Kimberly's birthday by bringing her Trouble and a damaged cake.
Pattie and Debra join in the game, and Buddy and Kimberly become distracted, poorly swing dancing to a stereo.
Kimberly wanted to surprise her parents with a trip using the money from the check fraud scheme but gives up after her continued disappointment.
The play was initially produced at the South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California, from April 13 to May 13, 2001.
[5] Kimberly Akimbo premiered Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club New York City Center Stage 1 on February 4, 2003 and closed on April 6, 2003.
Directed by David Petrarca, the cast featured Marylouise Burke (Kimberly), John Gallagher, Jr. (Jeff), Ana Gasteyer (Debra), Jodie Markell (Pattie), Jake Weber (Buddy) and Daniel Zaitchik (Jeff).
[6] Kimberly Akimbo ran from January 21, 2005 through March 6, 2005 at TheaterWorks in Hartford, Connecticut, directed by Rob Ruggiero.