Broadway By Design: David Zinn & Sarah Laux Bring KIMBERLY AKIMBO from Page to Stage

In Broadway by Design, BroadwayWorld is shining a spotlight on the stellar designs of this Broadway season, show by show. Today, we continue the series with two creatives from the critically acclaimed Kimberly Akimbo, scenic designer David Zinn and costume designer Sarah Laux.

In Kimberly Akimbo, Kim is a bright and funny Jersey teen, who happens to look like a 72-year-old lady. And yet her aging condition may be the least of her problems. Forced to maneuver family secrets, borderline personalities, and possible felony charges, Kim is determined to find happiness in a world where not even time is on her side.

Where did the design process begin? Laux looked to some of the most iconic television shows of the 90s. "My So-Called Life, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saved By the Bell, my own teen years lusting over the Delia's catalog and shopping at Wet Seal," she explained. "I'm 45 now so I'm perfectly aged to have actively lived through the late 90s! I definitely dressed Kim in a wardrobe based on my favorite items of clothes when I was 15/16."

"Between dressing Kim the way I dressed in the late 90s and working with J. Jared Janas to model Debra's wig after my own current hairstyle, it's been a narcissistic design process for sure. Dresses over pants forever!"

For Zinn, the scenic design began with a hint from the show's director. "Jessica Stone brought a picture to our first meeting which was a 'hunch' she had about the vibe of the project--it was a picture of an armchair, as I remember, kind of 'spotlit' by a streetlight in the middle of a parking lot--and it was a kind of blue-y deep night around the lighted chair. And I feel like that collision of interior/exterior, and that embrace of the deep blue of evening, was really our guidepost through the 3 years (thanks Covid!) leading up to getting our show onstage," Zinn explained.

"We looked at a million different surrounds--texture, colors, etc. but ultimately the sense of some brightly lit objects in an embracing but dark space was where we ended up. The photos Robert Adams took of the American West, in the 1970s, was also a big personal touchstone for me as I thought about the objects in the space and how to frame/reveal all the interiors."

Where in the process did he find his biggest challenge? "ICE SKATING! We needed to find a deck material that was: not white; could allow ice skating; could also allow people that weren't ice skating. Could also allow deck tracks to be cut into it and big scenery to roll on top of it."

"This was the big nail biter for all of us," said Zinn. "I remember the day Danny Mefford (choreographer) and I, in Dec of 2020, went to go visit Moira North at her Ice Theater of New York rehearsal space in Dumbo to test what seemed like the most promising product... that was a wonderful and exciting afternoon. All the synthetic ice folks we dealt with through the R and D process were super nice--hats off to them."

For Laux, the biggest challenge was achieving a fully authentic look. "I wanted to be sure to reflect the uncurated aesthetic from the time before cellphones and social media made the world as small as it is now."

"It was important to me that even though this time period is very much currently in fashion that I kept the original styling instead of the re-mix we see now in stores and on TikTok... keeping the styling appropriately awkward and not making the characters look too 'good' is always the hardest part of my job," she explained. "The color balances of the costumes on the set was a lesson in flexibility since so many of the costume decisions couldn't be finalized until we were all in the theater together."

Kimberly Akimbo is currently running on Broadway at the Booth Theatre.