For years, Boise actor and acting coach April Matson Grady watched local performers search for places to train, collaborate, and develop their craft. Now, they have a home of their own.
Earlier this year, Boise Acting Studio moved into a new location at 2226 W. Main Street in downtown Boise. Designed and built by April's husband, Scott Grady, the space includes classrooms, rehearsal areas, and a 30-seat black box theater intended to support local actors, writers, directors, filmmakers, and storytellers.
“I opened this studio because there are serious artists in this community, and they deserve serious training and a creative home,” says Matson Grady. “This place is more than just a training center. We are a community of artists—actors, writers, directors, filmmakers, and storytellers.”
Before founding Boise Acting Studio in 2024, Matson Grady built a career as a professional actor, appearing on television series including Kyle XY and Quintuplets. Since 2015, she has focused on coaching performers while helping cultivate Boise's growing creative community.
For Matson Grady, the new theater represents more than a performance venue.
“With the opening of this space, this becomes more than a studio,” she says. “It becomes a platform for storytellers. A place where talent can be refined, nurtured, and shared with the community.”
Later this summer, the theater will welcome audiences for its inaugural production, Poison Pen, helping launch a new chapter for the venue and the artists who will perform there.
Her philosophy centers on the belief that storytelling helps people better understand themselves and one another.
“The work of the actor is the work of the self,” she says. “People often think acting is about pretending, but it’s actually a search for the truth.”
As classes, workshops, and performances begin filling the calendar, Matson Grady hopes the studio will become a gathering place for artists across the Treasure Valley.
“I’m thrilled to have a front-row seat to watch so many local artists flourish.”