Playwright: ‘Everything I do comes back to this’

Leila Navidi

Ernie Curcio, who has written more than a dozen plays, makes his home in the Katherine Gianaclis Park for the Arts, a renovated junkyard where plays are regularly performed free of charge.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Name: Ernie Curcio, playwright, actor

Age: 30

Education: Bachelor’s degree in fine arts with an emphasis on acting, UNLV

The story: Ernie Curcio lives in Katherine Gianaclis Park for the Arts, a laboratory of experimental theater, art and music near Boulder Highway and Tropicana Avenue.

The Las Vegas native played varsity soccer, volleyball and basketball in high school before winding up in a theater class. He performed in Woody Allen’s “Death Knocks,” and that was that. He quit sports, got his bachelor’s in theater arts, co-founded the experimental theater group Cockroach Theatre, then headed to New York with his friend (and eventually his wife) Barbara Ann Rollins. He was Jason in Insurgo Theater Movement’s production of “Medea” and Henry in the company’s production of “Henry V.”

New York: In New York he started Boon Theater with Rollins and wrote and produced his own plays with other UNLV alums living in the city. But New York was too expensive and he was holding down two jobs, rehearsing and sleeping on kitchen floors. So, Curcio returned to Vegas. He and Rollins settled in at the Gianaclis Park. The renovated junkyard is connected to a one-story home owned by the son of the late artist Katherine Gianaclis. The theater, accessed through the living room, was once a diner, then a Christian Book Store, then a recording studio.

His loss: Curcio lost Rollins to suicide on Dec. 17 and three days later began working through his grief by writing a play inspired by her. “Sundrops” and “Unfinished,” which premiered last month at the Park for the Arts, both deal with suicide. Since her death, playwriting has become his main focus. He has no car and no phone. He wakes, writes, rehearses, then heads to his paying job in “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” at Planet Hollywood. “It’s kind of the focus now. What she liked about me is that I do this. So if I keep doing this, then it’s sort of like her wish for me.”

The park: Katherine Gianaclis Park for the Arts is the ideal poetic environment for a young starving artist in Las Vegas. Its Sunday readings are open to anyone who wants his play critiqued (and who can find the park at 5690 S. Boulder Highway). Plays are staged regularly and are free. “Theater, music, dance — everything can take place here,” Curcio says. “It’s affordable. The home is welcoming. The audience is part of the performance. It’s your house, too.”

His plays: In addition to “Sundrops” and “Unfinished,” Curcio has written more than a dozen plays, many of which take place in Las Vegas or reference the city or his childhood in some way.

Favorite playwrights: Sam Shepard, Eugene O’ Neill, Suzan-Lori Parks

Theater in Vegas: “There is a lot of great work and a lot of great talent in Las Vegas. We’ve got Cirque here, so a lot of these performers will come off the Strip more. A lot of our audiences go to the theater. It’s a matter of time before locals start going.”

Other interests: “Everything I do comes back to this.”

Sticking around: “As long as this place” — the park — “is here.”