Kyle XY Star Helps Boise Student Raise Money to Launch Short Film

Did you know this famous actor lives in the Treasure Valley? She does and she owns her own acting studio and film and theatre production company in Boise! 

Last year, some twist of fate landed me as the moderator of April Matson's panel at the Treasure Valley Comic Con. You might recognize her best as Lori Trager from ABC Family's Kyle XY.  April grew up in California and being an actress, you might expect her to still live somewhere close to LA...but that couldn't be further from the truth! She and her husband, Scott (who's also an actor and filmmaker) live right here in Boise!

She owns and teaches at PLATFORM, a boutique acting school designed for students who want to develop their acting skills no matter what level they're currently at.  The school's mission is to maximize each actor's grown and help them break down whatever walls they have so they can put together something truly wonderful.

One of her students, Chance Fuerstinger, has put together his something truly wonderful - a short film called "Here is Where the Monsters Live."  It's a candid, beautiful and relatable look at what it's like to live with clinical depression. (I think a lot of us know at least one person who struggles with this.) Now he's trying to raise funds to get it produced!

Rather than doing a typical Kickstarter campaign to make it happen, PLATFORM is getting behind Chance to help raise the money with a really cool fundraiser. A performance of Seattle playwright Barbara Lindsay's play "Snapshots."  It's really different from any other plays you've seen because it's actually made up of a bunch of little plays and monologues, pieced together to shine a spotlight on the relationships between two people.  Chance and April are co-directing it and some of PLATFORM's biggest starts will perform it!

Want to check it out for yourself and support a cool Boise based project? Click HERE to buy your tickets!  They're $15 and there are performances Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Gem Center for the Arts (2417 Bank Drive, Boise.) All the proceeds will go to benefit the making of "Here is Where the Monsters Live."

BTW, April is also part of a really cool panel about becoming an actor in the Boise area on Saturday at the Wizard World Comic Con.  The panel covers the first steps you may sneed to take to get your foot in the door with films being shot in the Treasure Valley, TV productions and commercials. (Remember, even Boise's own Aaron Paul got his start in commercials before Breaking Bad fame.) It's free with your con admission and happens at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday!