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Surviving David

nytheatre.com review by Margie Stokley
August 15, 2005

Surviving David, written and performed by Kathy Graf, is the true story of a widow's journey back to life and an actress's journey into the spotlight after the sudden and tragic death of her husband. After 20 years of marriage, 51-year-old David Graf (known to us for his role as Tackleberry in the Police Academy films) suffers a heart attack that leaves Kathy single, the sole parent of two sons, and in the shadow of David's larger-than-life legacy. Graf takes us through the day prior, the wedding where the heart attack occurred, the hospital, and the many months of grief and longing that followed.The reality that she has not seen her husband since April 2001 is a current that runs throughout this very intimate solo show. Her unabashed sexuality is hard to watch, not because it seems untrue, but because you wish David were there to witness it instead of you.Graf wrote and developed this piece with Michael Raynor, and it is directed beautifully by Tony Sears. In the play, Graf plays herself, the doctor, her own father, David himself, a medium she meets while hiking and hitting on an ex-boyfriend in the Hollywood Hills, and most impressively her two sons. The reality of her loss grounds all her jokes, gestures, and shifts of character. She flirtatiously gives you time to breathe, and can take your breath away just as easily. For me, the most heart-wrenching shift is in an episode where she is bent over, looking for her shoes at the wedding, while simultaneously portraying a stranger screaming "Your husband!"Graf gives us a landscape of loss, sometimes hard to watch, but full of humor and bravely told.