Rosebud School of the Arts welcomes graduates into fellowship

Times Contributor 

 

For four years, Jesse Anderson, Amy Burks, Natalie Gauthier and Laura Gillespie have studied at Rosebud School of the Arts. They took classes, read textbooks and wrote papers, but they received much more – the coaching, example and affirmation of working alongside their instructors in Rosebud’s theatrical and musical productions.

Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) is a guild school. In the time-honoured European tradition, RSA students are apprentices, mentored by instructors who are always polishing and practicing their own craft.

On Sept. 29, at a ceremony called the ROSAs (Recognizing Outstanding Student Achievement), RSA presented Anderson, Burks, Gauthier and Gillespie with the school’s highest honor, welcoming each one into the guild as a Fellow of Rosebud School of the Arts (FRSA) in Acting.

At the ROSAs, the school also presents scholarships and bursaries to students in all four years of study. Maki Van Dyke, Registrar, said annually RSA grants $23,000 in scholarships and bursaries. In addition, the newly-named BMO Production Grants are given to students who’ve worked in Rosebud Theatre productions. 

“They (BMO) wanted to invest in arts as well as in education,” said Van Dyke. “It shows real vision on their parts.”

Gauthier gave an address, expressing gratitude to donors who make scholarships possible. She and her fellow graduates, she said, would not have made it through their four years without that financial support and encouragement.

Paul Muir, RSA’s director of education, explained that becoming an FRSA means the graduates are now considered peers. 

“We consider you a member of the guild,” he said. “We consider you a colleague. The line between student and colleague goes away.”

For the brand-new FRSAs, it also means, “no matter where they are, no matter what’s happening in their life, they will always have an artistic and a spiritual home here in Rosebud,” Muir said. “They will always have a place here as a member of the guild.”

Amy Burks already feels the truth of that. Some of the highlights of her years in Rosebud were “the hard times, the really hard times,” she said. “That’s when … the community surrounds you, like a protective hug. And it’s amazing to experience that.”

Laura Gillespie agrees. The people of Rosebud are “so supportive,” she said. “I’m so glad that this place is now my home. I’m part of the guild and it will always be my home.”

Jesse Anderson referred to the personalized speech each graduate’s advisor gave for her. Renita Hamm, Student Life Advisor, spoke in Anderson’s honour, and she “captured my heart so beautifully,” Anderson said. “I don’t think any other school could do that. They don’t know you that well.”

Each graduate treasures the memory of her first Rosebud performances. Gauthier loved performing dinner music for Rosebud Theatre, recording her first album, and producing her Final Project, the one-woman play I, Claudia.

Anderson was thrilled to perform in her second-year student show. 

“We did Revenge of the Space Pandas, and I was cast as the Captain of the Space Panda Army,” she said. “It was brilliant.”

Gillespie was honoured to play “City Her” in Rosebud Theatre’s Gifts of the Magi. 

“I had a bunch of fabulous costumes,” she said. It was also her first musical. “I love singing and I love dancing, but I’d never done them together on the stage. And it was such a small and intimate cast and I felt so supported.”

Burks is currently performing in Rosebud Theatre’s Our Town. In November, she’ll perform in a play called Three Monologues in Red Deer. In December, she’ll be in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, with Calgary’s Theatre Basement. 

“I’m very excited,” she said.

Anderson, who’s interested in children’s theatre, will work with Trickster, Evergreen Theatre, and Stage West for Kids, before Christmas. Then she’ll enter Edmonton’s Concordia University College, where they’ve agreed to transfer her Rosebud credits, so she can get her degree.

Gauthier is also performing in Our Town. Over the next nine months, she’ll work with Fire Exit Theatre, Sandbox Theatre, Evergreen Theatre and Rosebud Theatre. She’ll also be “releasing and touring” her debut album.

 Gillespie has been cast in a play with Northern Light Theatre of Edmonton this fall. 

“There’s going to be some fights and somebody gets shot onstage. …. It’s sort of a heist gone wrong,” she said. “I’m excited to meet the people (in Edmonton) and just to start doing this work.”