From the Fringe: ‘T-O-T-A-L-L-Y!’

Fringe review: T-O-T-A-L-L-Y!, T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! Kimleigh Productions, Los Angeles, Calif.

By Elizabeth Maupin

Picture the teenage girl who, like, totally says “like, totally” all the time. Then picture her so irrepressible that you, like, totally like her – and that’s Kimleigh Smith, the ball of fire who tells her own compelling story in T-O-T-A-L-L-Y!, a narrative that shifts from light to dark in the blink of an eye but never allows the ‘V’ word – victim – to cross your mind.

Kimleigh, after all, thinks of herself as a superhero. She’s a 17-year-old cheerleader who has just seen the most amazing championship football game ever, and only a strange paralysis that begins to afflict her “from my girl parts down” persuades her that anything happened to her that totally amazing night.

Smith, who has acted in some major regional theaters and done a fair amount of TV, has put a fair amount of time between her present-day self and what happened to her when she was 17. (Her show is aimed at audiences 17 and older.) But the gripping story continues, and Smith seems to have come to terms with it. With a personality this strong and this appealing, you have to figure this woman can conquer anything she wants.

Remaining shows: 8:45 p.m. Sunday 5/23, 5:15 p.m. Monday 5/24, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday 5/25, 11:45 p.m. Friday 5/28, 11 a.m. Sunday 5/30. Brown venue.