Kathleen Stavert enters a new stage
Kathleen Stavert will be touring with Geordie Productions when school starts up again. In the meantime, she can soak up the summer sun.
Photo by andrew dobrowolskyj
Kathleen Stavert was only eight years old when she appeared in her first production, a musical produced by an English theatre company in Quebec City.
“I was in the chorus and had no speaking lines, but I loved it. Since then, it’s never been an issue as to what I was going to do with my life.”
Stavert will receive a BFA specialization in Theatre Performance, and has already earned a coveted position as a full-time touring actor at Geordie Productions, Montreal’s premiere purveyor of theatre for young audiences.
She and two others from this year’s Theatre class, Danny Coleman and Anthousa Harris, will soon start rehearsals for the company’s two-play tour that will take them to schools all over Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.
“All three are wonderful actors and display a level of professionalism that Geordie is searching for,” said Dean Fleming, Geordie’s artistic director. “All three are well on their way to having great careers.”
During her studies, Stavert achieved a straight A average, and was heavily involved with the Concordia Association of Students in Theatre (CAST).
She is now awaiting decisions from graduate schools. This spring, she attended a gruelling series of auditions for universities across North America. “I think I’ve been to New York City alone five or six times this semester,” she laughed.
So far she knows she has a good chance at Boston’s renowned Advanced Institute of Theatre Training, and the National Theatre School in Montreal.
Meanwhile, she will spend her first full summer in Montreal. Last summer, she was a guide for ghost tours in Quebec City.
“I had to wear a wool cape, a top hat with gloves and carry a lantern. That was pretty crazy, considering Quebec can get as warm as Montreal in the summer,” she said.
In the future, Stavert said she is more interested in independent film and theatre than blockbuster Hollywood productions.
“It’d be nice to have a penthouse in Manhattan overlooking Central Park,” she said wryly, “but I just want to be a working actress, happy with my work, and always to be challenged.
"Either way, I know I’ll be on stage for the rest of my life.”