2019 Winner of the Iris Evans Scholarship for the Performing Arts
Astrid Deibert is the winner of the 2019 Iris Evans Scholarship for the Performing Arts. From an early age, she gravitated towards the performing arts. Initially, she was drawn into the art of storytelling. In Astrid’s words “for storytelling, I firmly believe art is created when someone has a story in need of telling. The medium of narration will differ, as will the stories themselves, but the principle stays the same: an artist has something he or she needs to say. In the case of musical theatre, the story consists of a marriage between music, acting, and movement. There comes a time when mere words can no longer sufficiently convey the creator’s meaning, and it is music that provides the bridge to expand further.” Astrid was fascinated by this concept and began to immerse herself in the performing arts. She has studied violin, classical voice, and of course, musical theatre.
At the age of 5, she participated in the competitive classes at the annual Sherwood Park Music Festival. Over the years, she has been awarded by the festival with various small scholarships for her performances in both musical theatre and classical voice, as well as violin. In 2018, she had the privilege of representing the festival at the provincial competition for the Alberta Musical Festival Association. Astrid was a competitor in the “Musical Theatre Uptempo – Senior” class, and received her highest mark in competitive musical theatre yet.
In addition to her experiences with the Sherwood Park Music Festival, her time at Clover Bar Junior High School and Bev Facey Community High School further cultivated her love for the performing arts. Astrid performed in a variety of full-fledged school productions, including Legally Blonde: The Musical, Godspell, Jr. and Thoroughly Modern Millie. In her final year at Bev Facey Community High, she was recognized as the student with the highest grade in the “Musical Theatre 35” program.
In December 2018, she joined the cast of the Festival Players for their production of “Singin’ in the Rain”. Ultimately, it is the culmination of these experiences that inspired her decision to pursue musical theatre with greater focus and a more structured education and she has auditioned for the MacEwan University Theatre Arts program, set to begin in September 2019.
Astrid’s future goals include to study abroad and learn from the guidance of international artists. Of course, ultimately, appearing on Broadway.