Hollywood actress chooses Lithuania for European premiere of her multi award-winning show

Kimleigh Smith’s T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! is a remarkably honest and open comedy about her rape, the obstacles she overcame on her journey to heal, and the lessons she’s learned.

Kimleigh Smith’s television credits include “Bones,” “The Mentalist,” “Parenthood,” “Law and Order: LA,” “E.R.”, “Heroes”, and many others. Her one-woman show T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! has garnered her universal praise and multiple awards, including the Washington Post’s “Editor’s Pick” (Capital Fringe), one of Wall Street Journal’s “Top Shows to Watch” (Fringe New York), and the “Best in Theatre Award” and “Top of Fringe Award” (Hollywood Fringe).

Steven Leigh Morris of the LA Weekly says of Kimleigh, “She is without shame and she’s earned that right. There’s not a trace of self-pity; rather, super-hero determination.”

The Director of General Education at Shenandoah University, Amy Sarch, writes that Kimleigh, “has become a legend and thanks to this legend, sexual assault awareness and prevention has become a part of Shenandoah University’s public discourse.”

Kimleigh is a highly sought-after performer, keynote speaker, and life coach that teaches transformative workshops on topics such as Living Authentically and Powerfully, Healing through Forgiveness, and Owning your Story to Own your Life. In Lithuania, Kimleigh Smith will teach her workshops at the Creative Industries Faculty of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy, the Arts Faculty of Vytautas Magnus University, and the creative incubator Culture Factory.

The Lithuanian tour of Kimleigh Smith’s T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! will be the European premiere of the show. Kimleigh Smith comments on this decision, ‘In 2007, I was visiting New York and randomly ran into a dance exhibit in a little theatre in SoHo. In the audience, I met the beautiful Aiste Ptakauske, a scriptwriter and producer from Lithuania, who was in New York on an artist’s residency at the time. We stroke up a great friendship and just continued connecting on all levels. I knew we had friendship for life. In 2010, Aiste was back in New York to get her MA in Television, Radio, and Film. I, in the meantime, got accepted to the New York Fringe, and Aiste finally got to see my show T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! which I’d been talking about over the years. I guess a little bug was put in Aiste’s brain that she wanted to bring the show to Lithuania. So I got an email at the beginning of 2016 saying, ‘Would you be interested in coming to Lithuania?’ To be honest, Lithuania wasn’t really on my bucket list until I met Aiste. But my brain came together and I immediately said, ‘Yes!’ I barely even skipped a beat.

This tour has turned out to be something that I never thought would really happen, but it has actually become a dream coming true. It is such an honor to come to a country, which respects theatre like Lithuanians do. I feel really blessed and honored to be a young black woman to be invited to Lithuania to perform.’

Aiste Ptakauske adds to Kimleigh Smith’s comment, ‘On seeing Kimleigh’s one-woman show, I just couldn’t forget it. But at the time, I was an MA student and I didn’t have the means to organize a tour of such a high-profile performer in Lithuania. However, as soon as I founded my nonprofit The Ethnic Kitchen, I knew that Kimleigh’s show perfectly matched the nonprofit’s mission and goals. In the course of our lives, we get used to so many things, we close our eyes to so much, and we start to accept the unacceptable, but arts have the power to awaken our senses and consciousness and inspire us to live powerful and fulfilling lives. T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! is exactly this kind of source of inspiration, which calls us to never give up fighting for our happiness as well as the wellbeing of others.’

Kimleigh Smith’s tour in Lithuania is made possible by funding from the Baltic-American Freedom Foundation (BAFF). For more information about BAFF scholarships and speaker support, visit www.balticamericanfreedomfoundation.org.

All shows will be performed in English with Lithuanian subtitles.

For tickets, please, go to: Tiketa

For more information, please, go to www.pasauliovirtuve.org/en/ or contact Ms. Magdalena Verseckas by phone +370 679 77499 or e-mail info@pasauliovirtuve.org