NORTH CANAAN — A sold-out crowd dressed to the nines attended a Gratitude Gala at the Colonial Theatre on Saturday, April 27 hosted by the Housatonic Youth Service Bureau (HYSB) honoring Lisa Carter, who is retiring next month as superintendent of the Region One school district.
During the second annual event, which featured cocktails and conversation, live and silent auctions and dinner and dancing, Carter was awarded the Nancy Bird and Linda Sloane Gratitude Award, named to honor two esteemed past board chairs.
Ashley Adkins, HYSB’s director of donor engagement, noted that the award, which was introduced during last year’s inaugural event, “profoundly expresses our commitment to honor those who exemplify our mission, vision and values…and Lisa certainly does all that.”
Taylor Rousseau, director of clinical services and programs for HYSB, with her parents, Dawn and Ron Rousseau.Debra A. Aleksinas
In announcing this year’s award recipient, the HYSB noted, “Lisa’s transformative leadership has shaped the educational landscape of our community, leaving a lasting impact on students and families alike.”
The Gratitude Award, which honors “those who have gone above and beyond in nurturing the well- being and potential of our youth,” according to HYSB, came as quite a surprise, said Carter, a former board member.
“I was so overwhelmed when I got the call from Kelly,” she said, referring to HYSB Executive Director Kelly Parker.
“I’ve worked with them in some capacity since I was a high school teacher and got to know the organization over time. They really care about our students and our district and they are a valuable part of our community.”
As she spoke, a steady stream of folks stopped by to offer congratulations and wish her well in her future endeavors.
Betsy Trotta and Alex Duncan of Salisbury check out the items up for auction.Debra A. Aleksinas
Although Carter is retiring from Region One, she said she will be taking on the role of Assistant Executive Director at EdAdvance in Litchfield. “I am looking forward to it. It will be a full-time commitment but will not demand as much of my time.”
Parker, who greeted guests as they entered the historic theater’s lobby via the red carpet, noted that all proceeds benefit HYSB’s clinical programs and services supporting the community’s youth and families.
“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” she explained, and all proceeds benefit HYSB’s clinical programs and services supporting the community’s youth and families.
Debra A. Aleksinas
HYSB staff, from left, Kelly Parker, Lynn Nichols, Jaimie Sadeh, Scott Lynch (volunteer), Taylor Rousseau, Marissa Kent and Shanet Baker.
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Savannah Stevenson as Mrs. Paroo and Elliott Andrews who plays Harold Hill in the nationally touring production of “The Music Man.”
Then she became a lawyer instead.
“The leap from performing to lawyering isn’t as significant as it seems,” Stevenson said one recent morning from somewhere between tour stops on the national tour of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” in which she now plays Mrs. Paroo, the Irish immigrant mother of Marian the librarian.
For 18 years, Stevenson practiced law at high-profile New York firms specializing in criminal defense before eventually becoming head of ethics, compliance and risk at Peloton during the company’s dizzying pandemic boom years.
“At some point in time, I got married and had children,” she said matter-of-factly. “And then life kind of unfolded.”
Stevenson and her husband began renting a house in Falls Village “just to get out of the city on the weekends.”
“We fell in love with it, of course,” she said. “And then when the pandemic hit, we of course fled the city up to that house and decided not to go back.”
Sharon Playhouse Board President Savannah Stevenson, former attorney and lifelong theater loverProvided
The family — Stevenson, her husband Jon, and daughters C.C. and Sylvie — became full-time Salisbury residents in 2020.
Then came another plot twist.
While the world was buying exercise bikes and streaming spin classes from their living rooms, Stevenson was part of Peloton’s legal leadership team. But after the company’s spectacular rise came the somewhat inevitable crash.
“In 2023, the board decided to let the entire executive team go,” she said.
Suddenly, Stevenson found herself unemployed in Northwest Connecticut with time on her hands and a teenage daughter deeply immersed in the Sharon Playhouse YouthStage program.
“My older daughter said to me, ‘Well, as long as you’re bringing me to and from rehearsals every day, why don’t you audition for the show?’”
She auditioned.
“And they were like, ‘Oh, you actually can sing.’”
What followed sounds like the plot of a feel-good movie about reinvention in middle age: mother and daughter performing together at the Sharon Playhouse while Stevenson rediscovered a part of herself she had set aside decades earlier.
“It was the most joyful experience ever,” she said. “And I kind of realized that now, in my late 40s — I’ll be 50 this year — I’ve aged into this entire new crop of roles. The mothers, the older wise women, the cougar,” she said, laughing. “All of these great older women’s roles.”
So, she started auditioning.
And getting the parts.
Now she’s on a six-month national tour.
“It really does feel like a full-circle moment for me,” Stevenson said.
If that sounds glamorous, Stevenson is quick to point out that touring theater is less champagne and more buses, protein bars and Peloton app workouts in hotel rooms.
“There are certainly times where it’s a show Monday night in one city, get on the bus, show Tuesday night in another city, get on the bus,” she said. “There’s a lot of time on the bus.”
Mostly, though, she talks about the crew with something approaching reverence.
“We finish a show at 10:30 or 11 at night. They load out the entire set onto trucks. Then they sleep on the bus, get to the next city at 8 a.m., load it all back in and rebuild it,” she said. “They work so hard. It’s incredible.”
In “The Music Man,” Stevenson now plays the role she once dreamed of from the opposite side of the generational divide.
“I would have sung Marian in my 20s,” she said. “Now I get to play her Irish mother, Mrs. Paroo.”
There is a scene where Marian sings “My White Knight,” and Stevenson stands nearby as Mrs. Paroo listening silently. And while the younger actress sings about longing and possibility, Stevenson finds herself thinking about her own daughters.
“Sometimes I just find myself standing there with a tear running down my cheek,” she said.
Meanwhile back home, Stevenson has become one of the Sharon Playhouse’s most visible champions. She joined the board in 2023 and stepped into the role of president this year.
“There’s social science that provides really strong evidence about the benefits of having a theater in your community,” Stevenson said. “Lower rates of violence. Higher rates of volunteerism. Higher graduation rates.”
She speaks about theater the way some people speak about public libraries or churches — as essential civic infrastructure.
“Sharing laughter, tears, music and dancing through stories that illuminate our common humanity touches us in a way that builds connection, empathy and genuine community,” she said.
Much of that conviction comes from watching what theater has done for her own children.
When her oldest daughter interviewed at competitive boarding schools this year, Stevenson said interviewers repeatedly commented on her poise and confidence.
“They would say to me, ‘All that theater education is really paying off,’” Stevenson said. “She can establish connection with people readily.”
When asked what advice she might offer to other women contemplating a midlife pivot, Stevenson resisted the fantasy of reckless transformation.
“I don’t think it’s about jumping without a net,” she said.
Instead, she advocates something more measured.
“It’s about making a calculated risk,” she said. “And then, once you’ve run those calculations and feel planful enough about it, really diving into that risk headlong.”
Which is perhaps another way of saying that sometimes the girl who once sang show tunes in Atlanta and studied musical theater at Carnegie Mellon never actually disappears.
Sometimes she’s just waiting patiently for her cue.
For tickets to The Music Man, visit themusicmantour.com
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