Stage Actor and Kearsarge Schools Alumnus talks Life and Bright Lights

NEW LONDON – When the then 22-year-old Courtney Lauster of New London stepped onstage for the first time at the Art Deco 2,800-seat Paramount Theatre in Seattle, the lessons she learned in Kearsarge Schools made the stage fright go away.

Now aged 24 and based in New York City, the Kearsarge alumnus is an emerging stage actor, starring in works such as “Grease,” “Beehive,” and “Catch Me If You Can.”

In early February and in her biggest call to fame (to date), Lauster wrapped up a two-year tour with “Hadestown,” a sung-through musical about the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

In “Hadestown,” Lauster understudies Eurydice, a young girl who, to escape poverty and the cold, finds herself working in a nightmarish industrial version of the Greek underworld. Orpheus, her lover, and singer-songwriter, tries to rescue her.

In an interview with Kearsarge Regional School District Social Media Manager Abby Peel, Lauster reflects on her journey from New Hampshire’s White Mountains to New York’s Big Apple.

“I was visiting high school friends in New Hampshire after the audition for Hadestown and I got the ‘call back’. I got the role and was told I’d be leaving for the tour in a weeks’ time,” Lauster said. “It was challenging to learn so many different tracks, but I learned so much about myself as a performer, and it allowed me to see so many different perspectives of the show.”

While a Kearsarge student, Lauster catered to her interest in the arts by performing in the band and in plays such as “White Christmas,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” and “9 to 5.” Outside of school, she performed in several plays at the Palace Theater in Manchester.

What’s her secret to keeping those nerves cool on stage and in life? Maintaining a good work/life balance, a lesson that she learned while juggling school and theater commitments at Kearsarge.

“Next for me is just to chill out and live a ‘normal’ life for a bit. I’m going to be auditioning, of course, and exploring modeling a bit more. And you never know what could happen in the blink of an eye, but I’m really looking forward to settling down in my own place in New York City, getting a cat, and being in the same city for more than one week’s time.”

Kearsarge Schools Superintendent Winfried Feneberg agrees with Lauster about the importance of a good work/life balance saying that, “Courtney is a great example of how you can have it all, if you have the right ‘life tools’. That’s why Kearsarge Schools have adopted a ‘whole-of-child approach’, teaching skills such as resilience, flexibility, and innovation.”

Lauster hasn’t forgotten about her time at Kearsarge, and Kearsarge hasn’t forgotten about Lauster.

“In Hartford, my former drama teacher, Sandra Nelson, organized a whole field trip and loaded a bunch of students and some of my old teachers and mentors onto a bus and drove out over 3 hours on a school night to see the show. It was amazing and my heart was so full and I’m extremely grateful that that was even able to happen. I love Kearsarge and New Hampshire and it has truly made me who I am today,” Lauster said.

Kearsarge Schools offers an education in the arts through its STEAM Academy, which teaches art relating to studio, music, cuisine, industry, performance, and digital and graphics