PHOTO: WES NAMAN

BY JONISE ORIE

This past January the owners of Downtown Albuquerque’s Gorilla Tango Theatre abruptly closed the theater’s doors and left town. Those who had been closely involved with the venue, which put on productions that were aimed at both children and fans of improvisation, were shocked, finding themselves unsure of where they should plant their theatrical endeavors.

They didn’t have to wonder long. By February, Doug Montoya and Kristin Berg, who had managed Gorilla Tango, decided to open their own theater, which they would name The Box.

On Mar. 2, almost exactly two months after Gorilla Tango closed, The Box hosted its opening weekend, and surprised many with its rapid manifestation. Local iQ recently chatted with Berg and Montoya about their new “baby” and after hearing about the events leading to its opening, it seems Lady Luck was on their side.

After Gorilla Tango closed, Berg and Montoya were left feeling bereft and had to answer to now former patrons of Gorilla Tango. They realized the closing affected the community as well as the patrons.

“We understood that a void was created,” Montoya said of the closing of Gorilla Tango. “Would there be another improv-oriented theater? And what about the improv acts that used to regularly perform at the Gorilla Tango?”
Left with no answers or alternatives, Berg and Montoya decided to make a move.

“Kristin and I then started throwing around the idea of opening our own space,” Montoya said.

While the idea was incubating, a friend pointed them to an empty rental space. Though the owner of the space had already decided to rent it to someone else, when Berg and Montoya mentioned that they were opening a children’s theater, his ears perked up.

“After that, everything unfolded serendipitously,” Montoya explained. “Every road block that came up, somebody came in and fixed it,” added Berg.

Through the stressful obstacles of zoning laws, business licenses, organizing a website, and preparing the performance space, the pair worked out the details with a good amount of help from friends, family, and community theater supporters.

“(I told them) ‘this is what it’s going to take and we don’t have a dime,” Montoya related.
Luckily, people began writing checks in support of the new project and about 60 volunteers, many of them children, offered to clean, paint, and prepare the new performance space.

About half of the performances at The Box will be aimed toward children, while the other half will be a mix of general improv shows and a variety of both original and well-known plays. Improv classes will be offered during select times, and beginning in June, The Box will host child-oriented improv camps, sketch writing classes, and acting conservatories on techniques like auditioning, makeup, and props.

Though their mission involves nurturing children’s theater (is it nurturing theater or the children?), it also involves teaching the art of improv to people of all ages.

“What we are trying to do is breed a more accessible improv scene in Albuquerque,” Montoya explained. He said that in his experience cities like Chicago and Los Angeles breed a serious, cut-throat approach to improv theater, where people must pay to take improv classes before they can step foot on stage.

The people at The Box are simply looking for imaginative people with a desire to learn and perform improv, and have a little fun while doing so.