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Red Deer’s Tree House Youth Theatre gets new artistic director

Albertus Koett plans to bring a variety of approaches to the classroom
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Albertus Koett is the new artistic director of Tree House Youth Theatre. (Contributed photo).

A new artistic director is set to take Red Deer’s Tree House Youth Theatre past the three-decade mark and into the future.

Albertus Koett was hired last month to helm the youth theatre company that started in Red Deer in 1988 and has since given many young actors a start on stage.

He takes the reins from former artistic director Nicole Leal, who stepped down last spring to focus on her family.

Koett said he’s very excited to be able to bring a variety of approaches to the table with two sets of classes — with actors from age nine to 12 and from age 13 to 17.

As a local actor, director and playwright, who graduated from Red Deer College’s film program, Koett wants to give Tree House participants a variety of experiences, through musicals and scripted scenes, monologues and plays, as well as “devised theatre,” in which the actors can collaborate on script writing.

While Cornerstone Youth Theatre has been successful in attracting young actors with large-scale musical productions, Koett believes there’s a place for another kind of approach.

“With Tree House, we work with smaller groups, by design, so the actors get more one-on-one attention and it helps foster their growth…. We will focus a lot on the process and how the actors can connect with each other on stage.”

The kind of productions Tree House will do will also hopefully challenge the audience as well, said Koett, who has worked with Central Alberta Theatre, Ignition Theatre and Prime Stock Theatre.

Although registrations are happening later this fall, because of a delay in hiring an artistic director, the young actors will be working at the Memorial Centre and Central Alberta Theatre studios towards a production for March 14 to 24.

Koett said the younger actors will be honing class scenes and monologues for public presentation, along with Alice in Wonderland, a play the older group of actors will be presenting next spring.

For more information, please http://www.treehouseyouththeatre.ca/newweb/registration-tickets/