Consider her a multi-talented free spirit. Louisville resident Kimby Peterson can be an actor, stand-up comedian, or costumer, among other things.
Peterson will certainly be putting the acting chops to good use beginning tonight when she performs multiple characters in the staged radio play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part I.
She's the only female voice in the show, which means, "I get to use a lot of different accents. It's a great experience," Peterson said.
Peterson has been working on stage locally for a few years, gaining roles in productions ranging from ten minute plays (Ten-Tucky Festival at The Bard's Town, Finnigan's Festival of Funky Fresh Fun), to Shakespeare (Taming of the Shrew), and what she considers her favorite role to this point: Nolita in Sordid Lives, which Louisville Repertory Company put on last year.
Comedy is something Peterson has a knack in presenting. Most of her roles on stage have been comedic, and when not acting, she's taking her turn as a stand-up comedian. Peterson was recently seen in The Young, Dumb, and Full of Comedy Show.
"Improv training comes in handy," Peterson said. "The audience gives you a topic, and you have to talk about it for three minutes. For instance, the audience called out Cabbage Patch Kids. I never had Cabbage Patch Kids growing up, so I talked about that."
Peterson notes the difference between acting and stand-up as this: in acting, if something goes wrong, there are other people on stage to help cover the mistakes.
"In stand up, it's just you," Peterson said. "You're your own director. you don't see your own mistakes until afterwards."
When not doing stand up or theatre, she also helps out from time to time with costuming. Costuming was "something I fell into," Peterson said. "I knew how to sew in school, so I was kinda drafted into it."
Costuming, stand up, and theatre were all things Peterson took to doing during her time at Western Kentucky University. After graduating, she continued to perform for a few years before she said she "was just beaten down by life" and left the stage.
A while later, Peterson said, "I just got to the point where I was not going to be happy unless I'm doing it."
Although not originally from Louisville, she considers the city to be her home for the foreseeable future.
"This is the only place in Kentucky I would live," Peterson said, "largely due to the arts community."
The arts community and other interested audiences can see Peterson and the rest of the Alley Theater cast perform The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part One beginning tonight. More information can be found at this link.
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(Image from The Bard's Town)