President

Founding Member since 2001

Davenport, Iowa

Kimberly Kurtenbach Furness is a founding member and President of The Curtainbox Theater Company, which she established in 2001 along with 4 other founding members in Los Angeles, California.  She has successfully produced and starred in many shows with THE CURTAINBOX.   After spending several years living in both Chicago and Los Angeles working as a professional actress, director and producer, she has returned to the Quad Cities where she was born and raised. 

Kim began training for life as an actor at the age of 15 when was accepted into the prestigious and selective Idyllwild Arts Academy, a college preparatory school for the performing arts in Southern California.  After graduating from Idyllwild, Kim applied to many schools and was accepted into many respected programs, including NYU Tisch School, UCLA, Boston Conservatory, and DePaul School of Drama, among others. However, Kim decided on the prestigious Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM), one of the highest ranked Musical Theater programs in the country.  She spent two years at CCM training in their highly competitive and rigorous musical theater program.  After CCM, Kim returned to the Quad Cities and graduated from St. Ambrose University where she earned a BA in theater and mass communication. At St. Ambrose, Kim honed her skills as a stage actor and directing for the stage.  After graduating, Kim moved to Chicago where she performed at Chicago Dramatists Playhouse, the Factory Theater and Players Workshop with Second City.  While in Chicago, Kim was cast in an Independent Film, The Materialist, which won Best Short Film at the Houston World Film Festival and was later aired on the Sci-Fi channel.  After this film experience, Kim decided to focus her energies toward film and television.  She moved to Los Angeles where she gained representation with the Levin Agency in Beverly Hills and dabbled in television doing small appearances on That 70’s Show and Life on a Stick along with several commercials.  Kim performed with Noah Wylie’s The Blank Theatre Company; played Cinderella in the Falcon Theatre’s production of Cinderellaproduced by legendary film director, Garry Marshall; and played Violet in Greenbrier Ghost at the ASCAP festival at Disney Studios, coordinated by Stephen Schwartz, the composer of WICKED.  After being referred by a casting director, Kim auditioned for renowned acting instructor Ivanna Chubbuck and was invited to study with her at her acting studios in Hollywood.  Ivanna Chubbuck is known for coaching many celebrities, including academy award winning actresses Halle Berry and Charlize Theron. Under Ivanna’s tutelage, Kim focused her talents on acting strictly for film and television. Kim also had the pleasure of working for 6 years with the Beverly Hills Tutoring Company, where she worked closely with the families of many celebrity clientele, managing their home schooling and personally teaching many subjects such as Acting and Theatre History.  Kim loves teaching and coaching the craft of acting to both kids and adults.  She has been coaching and helping students to prep for college auditions and admissions for 8 years.  

Ultimately, Kim’s love for the Quad City community and the desire to ‘settle down’ brought her back home.  Now that Kim is back in the Quad Cities, she is finding plenty of work to keep her busy.  She is a regular on the Circa 21 stage, having played roles such as Anna in THE KING AND I,  Chelsea in ON GOLDEN POND, Rizzo in GREASE, Prudie in PUMP BOYS AND DINNETTES, June in SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, and Vickie in THE FULL MONTY, to name a few. One of Kim’s most recent performances was as Wren in A BODY of WATER.  Kim was thrilled to act opposite Ellen Dolan (As The World Turns) and work with playwright Lee Blessing at New Ground Theatre.  Kim does television and radio commercials locally, as well as teaching acting and musical theater for Davenport Junior Theater and New Ground Theatre.  Here in the QCA, Kim was cast in a speaking role in the film THE HIDEOUT produced by DUEA productions with Treat Williams and Burt Young.  Kim was also brought in as a guest artist in the National Premiere of a new play, CRÈME DE COCO, at St. Ambrose University.  During this production, she had the pleasure of working with Broadway director Philip William McKinley and Award winning playwright, William Luce.  She is often hired to write and direct an original musical review for the Lake Highlands Freshman Center in Dallas, Texas.  She was recently named President of the Board of Directors for The City of Davenport’s, Junior Theater Inc.  She is thrilled to bring all her experiences back to the Quad Cities to become a part of its growing arts community!