Ambrose alum brings Curtainbox to Quad Cities
Justin McDanel
Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: News
|
The Curtainbox Theatre Company made its debut in the Quad Cities this past June. The company opened locally at the St. Ambrose University studio theater with a production of "Three Viewings," a story of three monologues revolving around three lives that intertwine in one funeral home. Though the theatre is currently making its home in the Quad Cities, its roots are in Los Angeles.
The company was originally founded in L.A. in 2001. There are currently seven members in the company's ensemble. One of the theatre's founding members is Kyle Bornheimer. Bornheimer is currently starring in the CBS show "Worst Week."
Kimberly Furness is the president of the company and involved in the move from L.A. to the QCA.
Furness graduated from St. Ambrose University in 1996 with a BA in theatre and mass communications. She has worked in film, television and theatre ever since. She is a regular on the Circa '21 stage in Rock Island, Ill. but has most recently turned her attention to the Curtainbox. Dr. Corinne Johnson was one of Furness' college professors and is now working with the Curtainbox.
"She is pretty much the boss lady," Johnson said. "She has a very clear vision and she and her husband, (SAU alum) Dave Furness serve as the financial backers (producers) and really do all the leg work. She made it possible for me to just act. It was pretty freeing to have your former students be in charge and just follow their lead and know that you are in the best of hands."
The company does not currently have its own theater space but they are not dismissing the idea. They are staying small until they get their footing and using local community theater spaces to produce their shows.
Furness has been very involved in keeping SAU alumni and professors active in her theatre company in the Quad Cities.
Daniel Sheridan, 2005 SAU alum, just finished directing the Curtainbox's second show, "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," at the Village Theater in Davenport. He also directed their first QCA performance of "Three Viewings."
"[It was] a nostalgic roller-coaster," Sheridan said. "I was coming off three years of intense training at UConn (The University of Connecticut), working back in the studio theatre again with a company of people I couldn't respect more, and doing it in six days. I really felt like we pulled it off and it was a great refresher as to why I do this sort of work."
Be the first to comment on this story