“Family is Family” in SDA’s Production of “Kentucky”

By: Awo Jama ‘22

On September 27th, USC’s School of Dramatic Arts kicked off its 2018-2019 season with its production of “Kentucky,” a two-act play written by Leah Nanako Winkler and directed by Tim Dang. I had the pleasure of attending the show on its Friday performance, and was incredibly enchanted by both the expertise of the performers and the dimensionality of the story they conveyed. “Kentucky” centers around a headstrong young woman named Hiro, who, after escaping from her native Kentucky and the emotional traumas it dealt her, relocated to New York City, where she has been living and working for the past 7 years. After learning that her younger sister Sophie, who in her absence has become a born-again Christian, is to be wed to a man she has only been seeing for 6 months, Hiro storms her old town to talk some sense into her. What ensues is a hilarious yet heartbreaking narrative in which relationships are rekindled and shattered, and wounds are healed and formed.