Amphibian Stage Founder Kathleen Culebro Leaves Stage

If there’s one thing Amphibian Stage Productions is known for, it’s its ability to embrace change and new ideas with invigorating enthusiasm. The Fort Worth theater’s list of past productions reads like a wish list for community theaters looking to break away from the cycle of comedies, mysteries and dramas they know will be safe for their audiences.

Today comes one of the most significant changes in its 25-year history of innovation and change: the loss of its founding artistic leader.

Founder Kathleen Culebro announced earlier this summer that she would be stepping down at the end of the year.

“I thought about it for a while, at least a year, and I asked myself, is this just a phase?” Culebro says. “Do I just need a vacation? Then I thought about it and I said, this is really what I want to do. Then I had to think about what the best strategy would be.”

Culebro says she feels she’s leaving the Fort Worth theater she founded on good terms, giving the staff time to prepare for the change in leadership. The production team just wrapped up another successful run of its SparkFest performing arts festival that showcased new ideas, new voices and new talent. Amphibian Stage is also preparing to present one of Culebro’s most beloved shows as a playwright: the comedy of errors, The astonishing, fabulous and spectacular untruths of Juan Garcia.

“I’m just ready for a new challenge,” Culebro says. “I’m ready to try new things and explore new things. I also feel like Jay (Duffer), who was my co-artistic director… I probably wouldn’t leave if I didn’t know there was someone ready to take over and if I started seeing him do some really amazing things in the company and felt like I was ready for a little change. He’s really ready to take on the leadership role.”

The Amphibian Stage opened in 2000 in its South Main Street location, formerly home to The Axis, an alternative nightclub best known for hosting a concert by a then-unknown Seattle grunge band called Nirvana. Culebro’s mission for the burgeoning theater space was to challenge the boundaries of the local theater scene and bring new visions to the stage in a variety of invigorating styles and mediums.

The production company has innovated the Fort Worth theater scene in many ways. Their stand-up residency program, which began with Grace and Frankie The residency, which hosts star comedian Baron Vaughn, offers working comedians a place to develop and hone their material on their own terms and develop their own voices in a truly theatrical environment. The residency has featured the work of local comedians such as Lauren Davis and Paulos Feerow (who founded his own Dallas comedy incubator, For the City), as well as visitors such as River Butcher, 2 drug queens Phoebe Robinson and actor, comedian and writer Jordan Carlos.

“I never imagined that a theater company could do this,” Culebro says. “I’ve always been open to what’s needed and I like it when people come to me with their ideas.”

The National Theatre’s live screenings with the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth give the community access to some of the world’s most renowned actors and the latest theatrical performances without the shock of the average Broadway ticket price.

The jewel in Amphibian’s crown is its mainstage shows. These shows have introduced audiences hungry for something from the endless series of Neil Simon and Agatha Christie adaptations to exciting new forms and explorations of performance art, such as the 2003 premiere of the 3D sound radio play The true story of the tragic life and triumphant death of Julia Pastrana, the ugliest woman in the world, and the drama of sports power brokers King Liz by Fernanda Coppel in 2018.

“I like creating things,” Culebro says. “I like exploring new ways of doing things and I think Amphibian shouldn’t continue to grow too fast and should kind of settle in where we are right now. We’ve just hit some major milestones in terms of budget, staff size and accomplishments.”

Culebro says that despite all these milestones and others, she feels her greatest accomplishment with Amphibian has been the opportunity she and her team have given to so many artists who simply wanted to share their visions and feelings with an audience.

“Encouragement is invaluable in an industry that can be very daunting,” Culebro says. “No one puts it on a brand, but that’s where it’s most rewarding. It changes lives for the better. To have a platform to do that, what more could you ask for in life than to have a job that makes that possible and hopefully wherever I end up next, I can make lives better.”