{"id":89053,"date":"2026-06-04T11:10:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=89053"},"modified":"2026-06-04T11:12:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:12:05","slug":"theater-news-new-shows-about-a-rapidly-aging-girl-a-horror-parody-and-4-bold-women-from-the-french-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/see\/theater-news-new-shows-about-a-rapidly-aging-girl-a-horror-parody-and-4-bold-women-from-the-french-revolution","title":{"rendered":"Theater News: New shows about a rapidly aging girl, a horror parody and 4 bold women from the French Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0for our Eat. See. Do. newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easing into summer doesn\u2019t mean avoiding the brave and bold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local theaters are offering just that this month, including a prematurely aging girl in Long Beach Playhouse\u2019s \u201cKimberly Akimbo,\u201d a New Work Festival at Long Beach Shakespeare Company, The Garage Theatre\u2019s horror parody \u201cElves 1989\u201d and International City Theatre\u2019s \u201cThe Revolutionists\u201d \u2014 featuring four bold women from the French Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though its 16-year-old protagonist suffers a rare medical condition causing her to age at four times the normal rate, \u201cKimberly Akimbo\u201d<\/strong> is actually a hilariously funny story by David Lindsay-Abaire, whose play later inspired a musical (which this is not).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running at the Long Beach Playhouse\u2019s upstairs Studio Theatre from June 5 to July 3, the play centers on young Kimberly, inhabiting the physical body of an elderly woman while dealing with a crazy family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only is she facing her own mortality,\u201d says the Playhouse, \u201cher father is rarely sober, her mother is a pregnant hypochondriac, and her aunt is a con artist who ensnares Kimberly\u2019s classmates in her crimes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kimberly soon meets another \u201cmisfit\u201d at school named Jeff, who likes wordplay. And despite her circumstances, Kimberly sees life as an adventure, says Playhouse executive director Madison Mooney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no sad ending,\u201d Mooney says. \u201cKimberly doesn\u2019t give up, she takes control of her life, and sets off on a road trip, like any normal teenager would do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The play is directed by Michael Hovance, who brought \u201cA Doll\u2019s House<\/a>\u201d to riveting life last year at Long Beach Shakespeare Company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this show we see humanity,\u201d says Playhouse artistic director Sean Gray. \u201cFor the good, the bad and the absurd.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For \u201cKimberly Akimbo\u201d tickets and showtimes at Long Beach Playhouse\u2019s Studio Theatre, 5021 E. Anaheim St., call the box office at 562-494-1014 or visit <\/em>LBPlayhouse.org<\/em><\/a>.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Promo poster for Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s 2026 New Works Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Long Beach Shakespeare Company is continuing its New Works Festival<\/strong> this weekend on June 6 and 7 with four new plays \u2014 a fully-staged double-feature, a staged reading and a radio-style play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having experienced a reading of \u201cA Wire in Mind\u201d last month during the Festival\u2019s first weekend, I was taken by the compelling nature of Michael J.M. Canas\u2019 story \u2014 which blended AI and Alzheimer\u2019s disease in innovative ways \u2014 as well as the reading performances, especially by Holly Leveque, the theater\u2019s artistic director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This weekend\u2019s productions should prove to be similarly bold and moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fully staged \u201cLife and Death in Cowboy Country\u201d by Andrew Tyrell-Smith, a bounty hunter’s quarry is mortally wounded, giving the hunter an opportunity to talk to a dead man. And in the accompanying \u201cThe Deed\u201d by Jessica Wienecke, a man has a permanent solution for a woman\u2019s temporary problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A staged reading of \u201cReflections in a D\u2019Back\u2019s Eye\u201d by Deanne Stillman explores gun violence in an unexpected way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a radio-style presentation of \u201cDepartment \u2013 Episode 2: Anchor Store” by Christopher Bucca Taylor is \u201cMad Men\u201d meets murder-mystery in a 1946 Chicago department store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis innovative production highlights the festival\u2019s embrace of both traditional and experimental approaches to storytelling,\u201d says Leveque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For New Works Festival tickets and showtimes at the Long Beach Shakespeare Company\u2019s Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave., call the box office at 562-997-1494 or visit <\/em>LBShakespeare.org<\/em><\/a>.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Promo image for The Garage Theatre’s “Elves 1989.” Design by Ryan Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over at The Garage Theatre, it\u2019s anti-Christmas in June with the bold new parody \u201cElves 1989\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 a riff on Jeffrey Mandel\u2019s campy 1989 horror film \u201cElves\u201d \u2014 conceived by Rob Young, directed by Diana Kaufmann and running from June 12 to July 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSick of the holidays, crass commercialism and her lame job at the mall, Kirsten invites her two besties to perform a ritual to denounce Christmas,\u201d the theater describes. \u201cBut their innocent ceremony in the woods accidentally awakens a deadly dark elf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With only the help of a department-store Santa, the young women must stop the elf and its elven army\u2019s gruesome terror before they destroy Christmas \u2014 and the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The production contains foul language, depictions of abuse and violence, nudity and some potentially shocking or offensive scenes, the theater warns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLife can sometimes be like that,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For \u201cElves 1989\u201d tickets and showtimes at The Garage Theatre, 251 E. Seventh St., visit <\/em>TheGarageTheatre.org<\/em><\/a>.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left: Nondumiso Tembe, Sarah Pierce, Amie Farrell and Lyndsi LaRose in a rehearsal photo of International City Theatre’s “The Revolutionists.” Photo by Jordan Gohara.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And last but not least in this month\u2019s brave offerings, International City Theatre is staging Lauren Gunderson\u2019s award-winning play \u201cThe Revolutionists\u201d<\/strong> from June 12 to June 28 \u2014 a fast-paced comedy that finds humor even in the darkest of times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFour badass women \u2014 a playwright, an assassin, a spy and a queen \u2014 lose their heads (figuratively and literally) in this dream-tweaked version of the French Revolution,\u201d the theater says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gunderson said she conceived the play while visiting a mausoleum in Paris and reading a footnote about a feminist playwright who was guillotined during the French Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did a cartoon-style double take and said \u2018Wait. A feminist playwright? During the French Revolution? Guillotines?!\u2019\u201d Gunderson said. \u201cIt was a gradual exploration of that time and the striking similarities to our time in America: ridiculous war, drowning national debt, vast divide between rich and poor, institutional racism and the quest for women\u2019s equality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the play turned into a grander story about stories, she said \u2014 about why we need to make art, what art does in times of crisis and how stories connect eras and philosophies across time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis play is exactly what we need right now,\u201d says caryn desai, the theater\u2019s artistic director. \u201cIt\u2019s a bold, irreverent \u2014 and very funny \u2014 exploration of the power of women to shape history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tickets and showtimes for International City Theatre\u2019s \u201cThe Revolutionists\u201d at the Beverly O\u2019Neill Theater, 330 E. Seaside Way, call the box office at 562-436-4610 or visit <\/em>ICTLongBeach.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a slate of eccentric and timely productions playing in Long Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":89055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32366],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-89053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-see","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89053"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89060,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89053\/revisions\/89060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89053"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=89053"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=89053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}