Kimberly Levaco is the new girl in school. Her family moves to a small town after Kimberly’s aunt is involved in an undisclosed crime to Kimberly.  

The musical opens with Kimberly at an ice rink. Her soon-to-be fellow classmates treat her with distant judgment. Kimberly is left waiting in the cold for her dad who spends his time drinking.  

Kimberly is trapped in a house with a drunk father, a narcissistic pregnant mother and a selfish con artist for an aunt. All of whom fall short of their roles, leaving Kimberly to face her challenges alone among them. Their characters sprinkle the show with light-hearted humor.  

In her new home,  Kimberly scribbles her wishes to the “Make a Wish Foundation” —  a warm dinner with her family with a paper napkin on her lap amongst other wishes like a tree house.  

Kimberly is not only the new girl. She is also different.  She is not everything the world wanted her to be but she is also more. While her classmates prepare for a future, she prepares to face her death. 

Kimberly Levaco is a 15-year-old girl with a rare genetic condition called progeria. She ages four times more quickly than the average person.  The life expectancy for an individual with the condition is 16 years. She just turned sixteen.  

The musical Kimberly Akimbo traces her life as she reaches her 16th year in a new high school. 

Flowing with humor against a landscape of painful truth,  it places the audience in a helpless spectation.  But, the musical is far from a portrait of death varnished with humor. It is a girl’s journey to discovery. To the end, we see a subtle transformation in Kimberly Levaco’s character. A metamorphism promoted by realization. She becomes less altruistic, less reliant on the bad actors in her life. She takes things into her own hands.  

The musical is not about a girl fighting a disease — it is about her seizing control of her own life. The musical ends with Kimberly Levaco on a road trip with her high school sweetheart. As they make their way forward, a camera in hand to record for her newly born sister, they kiss.  

UW junior Rosa Fabian witnessed the show and described it as impactful with memorable music.  

The musical was met with a standing ovation. Life rarely presents a deus ex machina for our problems. Instead, sometimes all we have is our own free will. Kimberly Akimbo reminds us that we can take life into our hands. Sometimes our lives can be stolen, and we must steal our lives back.

Kimberly Akimbo may be seen at the Overture Center until Sunday, Feb. 15.