By Aaron Krause
Family isn’t just something you’re born into or adopted into – it’s something you build and encompasses the people you love and who love you. Kim Ehly’s celebrated play, Velvet Green Summer, seeks to drive such messages home.
Kutumba Theatre Project (KTP) is bringing the play, originally titled Baby GirL, back to South Florida, where it will run as a professional production from May 7–24 at Empire Stage’s intimate black box theater in Fort Lauderdale.
The play’s current title reflects expanded themes and character development. The semi-autobiographical play, a coming-of-age and coming-out story, premiered in South Florida in 2012, where it earned critical acclaim and played to sold-out audiences. The play also ran in the 2014 New York City International Fringe Festival, where it received raves.
The piece, which plays with fantasy and a heightened sense of reality, poses a provocative question: What if you were conceived twice in one lifetime—once through the “illegitimate” passionate love of a young, free-spirited couple, and again by a conservative, “missionary position” couple who long for a child, but for whom conception proves elusive? What if you were adopted by that same conservative couple, only to discover you are everything they can’t stand or understand?
After that adoptive family alienates Ash, a spirited young daydreamer, the character embarks on an extraordinary journey to find love and a place to call home.
Ehly, whose pronouns are they/them, said the play is a universally relatable comedy with emotional depth that “is always there underneath it, and it tends to catch you when you least expect it.”
The piece explores themes such as identity, belonging, and the adoptee experience. It breaks the imaginary “fourth wall” separating the audience’s world from the world onstage by having the central character speak directly to the audience. This creates a sense of intimacy early on—and by the end, audiences aren’t just observing the story, they’re experiencing it with the characters, Ehly said. Ultimately, they hope that audience members feel as though they’re part of the characters’ world.
“I often direct with a cinematic sensibility, even with more traditional plays,” Ehly said. “For me, it comes down to pacing and movement, how scenes flow into each other, so the audience doesn’t feel like they’re watching a play and instead feel immersed in the world, almost like they’re inside it.”
Ehly said “Kutumba” means many things in many languages, including family and a unique bond among community members. In fact, the theater community has become a kind of family to Ehly. When they were 13, Ehly switched out of chorus and into stagecraft “because I thought it sounded fun.” It became something more to them.
“That one decision ended up changing everything,” Ehly said. “My drama teacher saw something in me and asked me to audition for a show and that’s when I got bit by the theatre bug. It was the first place I really felt like I fit in and felt free to be me.”
“Theater has always felt like home to me—and after some time away, I felt called back to it in 2025,” Ehly said. “What keeps me committed is the process-oriented journey of pre-production and rehearsals and the unique exchange of the human experience when we put the production in front of an audience. It’s truly magic.”
At KTP, that magic includes shows “that speak to us and our audiences,” Ehly said. “The goal is always connection among actors, director, designers, crew, and patrons. Theater is a mirror that creates a human experience where people feel seen and understood. We’re interested in universal themes, told in a way that feels immediate and uniquely theatrical.”
KTP began as a way to create and produce work for underserved communities, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community. Ehly said that vision has grown.
“We’re still deeply committed to LGBTQ+ storytelling, but we’re also looking more broadly at work that speaks to social justice and other marginalized experiences,” they said. “A big part of that evolution is a renewed focus on finding and developing new plays and works that are not produced as often.”
Velvet Green Summer is one such piece.
The cast includes Jill Bellak, Taylor Lyn Dawson, Abbie Fricke, Michele Verdi-Knapp, Katie Jackson, Eduardo Marquez, Brian McCormack, and Ryan Townsend.
Velvet Green Summer will run from May 7–24 at Empire Stage’s intimate black box theater, 1140 N. Flagler Drive in Fort Lauderdale. The running time is one hour and 40 minutes, plus a 15-minute intermission. Shows are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m., with one Thursday show at 8 p.m. on May 7 (preview). Opening night is May 9 at 8 p.m. General admission $40, with a preview price of $30. Seating is limited. For tickets, visit https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/kutumbatheatreproject/velvet-green-summer. Information and tickets are also available at www.kutumbatheatreproject.org, or by calling (954) 646-1000.
A PaperStreet Web Design
