'Kimberly Akimbo' revisits a Tucson stage

She never forgot it.

“It was always percolating,” says Miller about the play.

She “felt it was a show that deserved a full staging instead of in a small space.”

And that’s what it will get when Winding Road Theatre Ensemble opens the David Lindsay-Abaire play this weekend.

Miller, again, will be at the helm.

And Peg Peterson, who starred in the earlier production, returns in the title role.

And what a role.

“Kimberly Akimbo” tells the story of a teen about to turn sweet 16. You’d never know it, though — she has a disease that makes her physical age four times older.

And she’s from a big-time dysfunctional family: Her mom’s a narcissist who swears like a trucker; her father has trouble remembering things such as Kimberly’s birthday because, well, he’s gotta drink his beer when he gets home from work, her aunt is a scheming thief.

But Kimberly is full of innocence and hope.

The play is “about how a family deals with each other when given something as large as a disease as the child has,” says Miller.

“It’s really about people finding their way in the world — they are loud, strong, steely and determined.”

Kimberly is at the heart of the play; a teen longing for her first kiss while struggling in a body that is frail and aging; it doesn’t particularly entice boys her age.

“I think this play allows you to see that life happens,” says Miller.

“We make decisions, tragedy happens, but there is still a way to find some hope in that. Though all these people have had tough things happen, they are always hopeful. … They still believe that something will be better.”

Peterson’s earlier performance as Kimberly was a stunner — she made us believe this woman in her 60s had the heart and innocence of a 16-year-old.

Also returning to the stage with this production is Carly Elizabeth Preston and Amanda Gremel, both of whom added humor and heart to the show.

But don’t expect a remount of that production, says Miller.

“They have grown so much as actors, and I’m in a different place,” she says. “That changes the chemistry. And there’s the additional chemistry of two new actors.”

There are plenty of laughs in the black comedy, but Miller finds more than that in the play.

“You can’t leave the show without feeling you love these people,” she says. “You leave thinking about what’s happened to them. It’s about connecting, and at the end, the audience feels connected to those characters.”