{"id":1320389,"date":"2020-06-07T22:07:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T04:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=997061"},"modified":"2020-06-08T06:54:52","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T12:54:52","slug":"monday-profile-corey-simpson-followed-his-heart-back-to-the-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/monday-profile-corey-simpson-followed-his-heart-back-to-the-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Profile: Corey Simpson followed his heart back to the theater"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/20200604DSC_5362-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/20200604DSC_5362-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/20200604DSC_5362-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/20200604DSC_5362-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/20200604DSC_5362-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/20200604DSC_5362-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Corey Simpson is the Executive Director of Thunder River Theatre Company in Carbondale.<\/strong><br \/><em>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Corey Simpson knows exactly when it happened \u2014 the moment he first fell in love with theater.<\/p>\n<p>As an ensemble chorus member and soloist in a production of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d at the famed Guthrie Theatre in his hometown of Minneapolis, a then 9-year-old Simpson was awestruck by the talent and dedication of the production\u2019s actors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a young performer seeing world-class artists on stage, and watching them warming up, and watching this magical process unfold through rehearsal,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cAnd suddenly there\u2019s this incredible show that appears before your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simpson, who is now the Executive Director of Thunder River Theatre Company, had actually been introduced into the world of performing artists years earlier when as a toddler he accompanied his parents, who were professional drummers, on tour.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote p402_hide\" readability=\"3.5\">\n<blockquote readability=\"10\">\n<p>\u201cI love that the creative experience of producing theater, whether that\u2019s directing or acting, transports me and allows me to be my best, most creative self.\u201d Corey Simpson Thunder River Theatre Company executive director<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI grew up in the pit while my parents were playing drums right next to me. So I caught the theater bug early from being around lots of creative performers,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating valedictorian from his high school, Simpson \u2014&nbsp;one of the rare creative types who also excelled at math and science \u2014 decided to enroll at CU-Boulder in its aerospace engineering program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had been involved in theater for so long, but I felt that I should do the responsible thing and pursue a career in engineering,\u201d he said. \u201cI made it through all of the weed-out classes, like all of my engineering calculus, my engineering physics, my differential equations, and then I said \u2018I\u2019ve really had enough of math, and my heart is still over on that side of campus where the theater department is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simpson took one theater class, against the advice of his advisor, and the following semester changed his major to theater. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter college I went to Alaska and did Shakespeare and I did a couple tours around the country with shows and ended up back in Minneapolis where I did theater for a couple years and commercials,\u201d Simpson said \u201cBy that point I had been doing theater professionally for so long that I was burned out. So I took a long break from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simpson took a job as Director of Internet Development for National Geographic Maps where he worked for for 9 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I came to the realization that I should go explore the world that you\u2019re supposed to see when you work for National Geographic,\u201d he said. \u201cSo my partner at the time and I sold our house and sold most of our possessions, and each of us packed a backpack and we headed on an around the world trip, landing first in Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After 9 months of traveling around Southeast Asia, Simpson got the unfortunate news that his grandmother was very sick, so he flew back to see her before she passed away.<\/p>\n<p>Having sold their home, Simpson and his partner moved in for a short time with Simpson\u2019s mom and stepdad who were living in the Roaring Fork Valley, and \u201cfell in love with the place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simpson\u2019s mom was the music director for the children\u2019s theater group Jayne Gottlieb Productions at the time, but got called away to tend to a sick relative, so Simpson stepped in to direct two children\u2019s shows that she had been working on. That turned into four years of him working with the children\u2019s theater on 26 different productions. By the end of that he had caught the bug to be onstage again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ended up doing a show with the Aspen Fringe Festival,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cWhen you are an actor in this valley and people see you onstage, you become a very busy human being because there\u2019s so much opportunity here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Fringe Festival gig unfolded into many different opportunities for Simpson with Aspen Community Theater and eventually Thunder River Theatre Company.<\/p>\n<p>Simpson actually turned down his first offer of a role in a TRTC production because he\u2019d already accepted another one in an Aspen Community Theatre production. But when TRTC founder and director Lon Winston asked him to audition for a role in the TRTC production of \u201cAll My Sons,\u201d he accepted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was an incredible experience,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cIt felt like the studio work I had done in college, just really getting into the material \u2013 actors working through their motivations together and juicy, fun, interesting, engaging work. I really caught the bug again after that because it was the kind of work that I wanted to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After casting Simpson in the role of Laertes in the TRTC production of \u201cHamlet,\u201d Winston had a surprise in store for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were partway through rehearsals and Lon invited me to dinner at his home with his wife Debra, and in the middle of a bite Lon asked, \u2018How would you feel about running Thunder River Theatre Company?\u2019\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n<p>Simpson told Winston that he\u2019d always dreamed of running a theater company, so the two started talking about ideas, getting to know each other better, and making plans for what the transition might look like.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring that time, (Winston) had a recurrence of his cancer, and at that point the transition became immediate,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cSo I jumped in full force and Lon eventually went into remission again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simpson said the experience that stands out the most for him so far at TRTC was directing the theater\u2019s production of \u201cEquus\u201d in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was a scary choice and it was an incredible cast of actors who were so committed and excited about this work,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were all pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones and learning new things about our craft. It\u2019s one of those processes that every actor dreams of, which is going into rehearsal every night and being so immersed with other artists that you get out of your own way and get into the zone and just let your creativity take over the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regarding his love of theater, Simpson said, \u201cI love that the creative experience of producing theater, whether that\u2019s directing or acting, transports me and allows me to be my best, most creative self. And I love that in my role at TRTC I have the opportunity to give others a place to do that same thing. And that in addition to the creation of that, we get to bring the audience along on that journey with us, and we all learn something about ourselves together through that experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheater was always a way as a gay man to feel like I had a place where that was accepted and celebrated and I was a part of everyone else when I was onstage or off at a theater. With what our country is experiencing right now, I\u2019m so humbled by having an environment where we all respect and hold one another up. I wish that everyone in the world could have the experience of having that kind of family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:jbear@postindependent.com\">jbear@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/monday-profile-corey-simpson-followed-his-heart-back-to-the-theater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Corey Simpson is the Executive Director of Thunder River Theatre Company in Carbondale.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Corey Simpson knows exactly when it happened \u2014 the moment he first fell in love with theater. As an ensemble chorus member and soloist in a production of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d at the famed Guthrie Theatre in his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1320389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-22 11:06:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1320392,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320389\/revisions\/1320392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}