Storyteller Kevin Kling gives a riveting performance of his own writing in Kevin Kling: Unraveled at the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF). Telling stories from his own life, he then takes the audience with him as he reflects on their meaning.
His stories are by turns funny and sad and frightening and hopeful. There’s Kling, as a very small young child, trying to escape from a medical facility that scares him. He has an unexpected moment of glory in Little League. He flies with his father in an experimental aircraft. Hit by lightning in a Minnesota thunderstorm, he learns that getting hit by lightning is something of a family tradition. He has a tender junior high school crush on the lovely girl sitting in front of him. Visiting Czechoslovakia with a theater company in the waning days of Soviet control, he meets with dissidents, performing his own play that had been banned from the tour, then learns a surprising fact about why it had been banned and by whom.
Kling is a person with a disability, the result of a congenital condition in one arm and the effects of a motorcycle accident on the other. The crash, the effects of painkillers during his hospitalization, and the multiple surgeries that followed, is one of the central stories of the latter part of the show. How having a disability affects his life, the way he looks at the world, and how people look at him is one of the show’s major themes.
He earned a hearty laugh from the audience with wordplay, musing on how the sounds of the word “catechism” made him think of a combination of “cata” (from “catacombs”) and the “ism” from “hypnotism.” At other times, he delivers what it is fair to call poetic prose as he talks about what means most to him. He seamlessly integrates the words and thoughts of other writers, from Rumi to David Bowie to Shakespeare (e.g., you don’t want to deal with issues in your life by becoming Richard III).
Musician Rob Witmer ably assists Kling, playing keyboard, accordion, and recorder to accompany or interact with Kling’s stories. Witmer also joins Kling in a few of the sequences, such as being Kling’s less than supportive Little League coach or joining Kling in a rendition of David Bowie’s “Heroes” near the end of the show.
David M. Barber’s scenic design centers on a large, almost-symmetrical line drawing of a sphere, with physical lines emanating from its center out into the ceiling of the house. Other items on the set — a family photo, a portrait of Richard III, a toy wiener dog — serve as reference points during parts of Kling’s stories. The floorboards — in shades of brown and tan accented by blue — meet on diagonals. The set not only is visually arresting but, in a nonliteral way, frames Kling’s theme of connection in people’s lives.
In delivering his stories, Kling not only illustrates the importance of connection but forms a connection with the audience in an emotionally compelling way. There’s a sense in which the use of the word “unraveled” in the show’s title is not quite on point. What Kling has to say is much less about how people may come undone than it is about how Kling, and by extension all of us, can use stories to become fully integrated as who we are. Telling stories is at the heart of how our species makes meanings in the events of our lives, and it would be hard for anyone to do it better than Kling.
Running Time: 80 minutes with no intermission.
Kevin Kling: Unraveled plays through August 3, 2025, presented by the Contemporary American Theater Festival performing at the Marinoff Theater, 62 West Campus Drive, on the campus of Shepherd University, Shepherdstown WV, in repertory with four other CATF plays. Times, dates, and ticketing information may be found on the CATF website or by calling the CATF box office at 681-240-2283.
Kevin Kling: Unraveled
A World Premiere
By Kevin Kling
Directed by Steven Dietz
CAST
Self: Kevin Kling*
Musician: Robertson Witmer
PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Design: David M. Barber**
Costume Design: Peggy McKowen**
Lighting Design: Harold F. Burgess II**
Sound Design: Robertson Witmer**
Stage Manager: Deb Acquavella*
Dramaturg: Allison Backus
*Actors’ Equity Association
**United Scenic Artists
***Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
SEE ALSO:
Contemporary American Theater Festival announces full 2025 lineup (news story, March 31, 2025)
