Alex Curtis is an actor, director, improviser, and a founding member of Threshold. He originated the role of the well-meaning but materialistic tramp Milton in Within the Wall of Sand, directed by Jessica Holt for the SF Young Playwrights Festival, starred in a staged reading of the one-man show The Hunger Room, by Christopher Chen, and will appear as the Chechen separatist Rustan in Threshold's first full-length production, TERRORiSTKA by poet/playwright Rebecca Bella. Other notable Bay Area acting credits include the world premier of Yellowjackets at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s, written by Itamar Moses and directed by Tony Taccone, Twelfth Night at the Marin Shakespeare Festival, and Zombie Town: a documentary play at Sleepwalkers Theatre.
As a director, Alex recently staged his original adaptation The Dentist: A Tragic Commedia dell’Arte in One Act, at the University of California, Berkeley, as part of the Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies Department's workshop season. Next up, he will direct a short play entitled Three Little Words; Or, Romeo and Juliet, the Entire Play, with Four Actors, in Three Word Sentences, Which Can't Be Done by local playwright/theater blogger Tim Bauer for this year's annual Bay One Acts Festival.
Alex is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where he completed simultaneous degrees in Business Administration, and Theater and Performance Studies. His thesis “Commedia dell’Arte: Training the Contemporary Actor” was completed in 2008 under the supervision of commedia scholar Mel Gordon. While there, he taught courses on improvisation and commedia dell'arte through the Berkeley DeCal Program. He is the recipient of the David and Diana Menn Prize for Outstanding Creative talent in the Performing Arts, and the Sara Huntsman Sturgess Memorial Prize for Outstanding Artistic Accomplishment.
Alex Curtis has also taught for the Main Shakespeare Company Young Company, where he taught both Shakespearean performance and improvisation.
In addition to Threshold, Alex is a member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company (voted Best Theater Company, 2008 by the SF Bay Guardian), where he improvises throughout the year.
PAMELA DAVIS
Pamela Davis is a 2007 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and a founding member of Threshold. Under the Threshold banner, Pamela has appeared opposite Alex Curtis as Jane, the poor little hobo in Within the Wall of Sand, directed by Jessica Holt for the SF Young Playwrights Festival, and as the cutthroat day trader Vera Shapiro in Exchange, also directed by Jessica and produced at this year’s Bay One Acts festival. Other Bay Area acting credits include the children’s show The BFG at Berkeley Playhouse directed by Jon Tracy, ISHI: Last of the Yahi and Boston Marriage at Theatre Rhinoceros, Steven Yockey’s Sleepy at Impact Theatre, and Gary Graves’ Achilles and Patroklos at Central Works, as well as staged readings with the Playwrights’ Center, Boxcar Theater, Three Wise Monkeys, Playhouse West, the Oakland Public Theater, and Subterranean Shakespeare. Favorite roles as an undergraduate at Berkeley include Irina in Three Sisters and Malvolio in Twelfth Night.
Pamela is also a playwright and director. Her short play “Maybe Tov,” a mini-comedy, was read at Three Wise Monkey’s Short Leaps last year, and The Lost And Found, a meditation on faith and loss, was chosen as part of UC Berkeley’s Recommendations showcase in 2006. Pamela directed The Lost And Found and excerpts from The Swan at UC Berkeley. She has been awarded the Mask and Dagger Prize as well as the Mark Goodson Prize for Distinguished Theatrical Talent, and holds a minor in Theatre and Performance Studies from Berkeley. She has taken workshops in voice, movement, and stage combat at foolsFURY (with Debórah Eliezer) and Arroyo Repertory Theater (with Louis Roth), and is currently developing a physical performance piece as part of the CUSP workshop with Performers Under Stress.
JESSICA HOLT
Jessica Holt is the Artistic Director and founding member of Threshold. She holds a Masters degree in Theater and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. She has directed the full production of TERRORiSTKA by Rebecca Bella, as well as the Threshold shows "Three Little Dumplings Go Bananas," “The Catcher in the Rye Cancelled” by Jon Brooks, “Exchange” by Ben Fisher, “The Hunger Room” by Christopher Chen, “Ayravana Flies, or A Pretty Dish” by Sheila Callaghan and “Within the Wall of Sand” by Benson Ma and Kalson Chan.
A Bay Area director and theatre teacher, she is also the Artistic Director of The Bay One Acts Festival. She is also a busy freelance director, and has directed for Magic Theatre, Boxcar Playhouse, Cutting Ball Theatre, Magic Theatre, Playwrights Center San Francisco, Ross Valley Players, Masquers Playhouse, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and UC Berkeley. Her 2011 production of “Loot” for the Masquers Playhouse received a BATCC nomination for Best Director and Best Ensemble.
Jessica is a member of the Magic Theatre Artists Lab and sits on Cutting Ball Theatre’s Literary Committeee. She currently teache Beginning Acting and Theatre Appreciation at West Valley College. She has also taught Acting and Theatre at UC Berkeley, Marin Theatre Company, Evergreen Valley College, Academy of Art University, the New Conservatory Theatre Center, and Stanford University.
