"The arts in the Wood River Valley are as breathtaking in their scope as the natural resources that surround them. They form a continual tapestry that is literally woven through the very fabric of our community – from gallery walks, to music under the stars, to dynamic theatre, to literary conferences – it is a constant feast for the mind and soul.
I arrived in the Valley fourteen years ago wondering how-in-the-world our nonprofit theatre company, Company of Fools, could flourish in a small town. Fourteen years later I wonder how-on-earth it could flourish anywhere else. If all the world's a stage – then the Wood River Valley is the perfect stage for the world!" -- Denise Simone: Core Artist and Founding Member of Company of Fools.
Denise Simone (Core Company Artist) is a founding member of Company of Fools as well as an accomplished director, teacher, playwright and actor with over 30 years experience in the world of professional nonprofit theatre. Her directing credits include Collected Stories, Doubt, Frozen, Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune, The Gift of the Magi, The Laramie Project, A Christmas Carol, Talley's Folly, Diary of a Madman, A Shayna Maidel, Graceland, Belle of Amherst and the New Voices series for Company of Fools and Theatre Virginia. As a playwright, Simone has had four plays producedin the United States. Her children's play on adoption, Me and My Families, toured for over four years and served as a recruitment tool for Virginia adoption agencies looking to match families with special needs children. Simone has taught theatre and creative writing classes in Virginia and Idaho, at Company of Fools, Richmond's School for the Performing Arts, St. Catherine's and the Henrico's Center for the Arts as well as creating and implementing Company of Fools' innovative in-school program Stages of Wonder, now in its tenth year. She was the creative writing teacher for the theatre component of Blaine County School District's Academy for the Arts from 2000-2003 and the lead teacher for the Company's facilitation of the Community School's Elementary School Theatre Program in 2003/ 2004. Simone is a professional actor with credits including Lou in Welcome Home Jenny Sutter, Becca in Rabbit Hole, the title role in Hedda Gabler, Shirley in Shirley Valentine, Karen in Dinner With Friends, Gretta in James Joyce's The Dead, Terry in Side Man, May in Fool For Love starring Bruce Willis, Li'l Bit in How I Learned To Drive, and Roberta in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea for Company of Fools. Simone was appointed by Governor Dirk Kempthorne and reappointed by Governor Risch to serve as a Commissioner on the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Ms. Simone also serves on the board of directors for the Wood River Arts Alliance.
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"The arts in the Wood River Valley are as breathtaking in their scope as the natural resources that surround them. They form a continual tapestry that is literally woven through the very fabric of our community – from gallery walks, to music under the stars, to dynamic theatre, to literary conferences – it is a constant feast for the mind and soul.
