Kellie Carroll doesn't believe that everything happens for a reason.
But she does believe you can make a reason out of everything, including personal tragedy.
Carroll is the founder of Rebel Theatrics. While it's primarily a theater and dance training company, part of their curriculum is dedicated to mental health, because she feels there's a huge lack of support in that area in the fine arts.
It's support that she knows is needed after losing her brother, Scott, to a mental health crisis in May of 2017.
"We did not have much, if any, warning signs for his choosing to stop living his life," Carroll said. "In the process of my family healing from such a sudden, tragic and confusing loss...more and more (of my) students were coming to me...with bigger things about their self-worth and self-esteem and emotional health. And that's when I knew I wanted to be more than just a dance teacher and just a theater teacher."
So two years ago, Carroll and co-founder Lucas Atkins, founded Rebel Theatrics.
"Lucas and I want a space where students are safe to figure themselves out. It's already hard enough to be a young person in the current world. And being an artist is really hard," Carroll said. "There is a lot of rejection and questions and self-doubt. A lot of their self-worth is tied up in if they cast and what they get cast as in a show.
"We want to train students at a high level. But we also want to give them safety and permission to explore every single part of themselves."
Carroll describes her brother as a "rebel." And she knows Scott would be proud of what Rebel Theatrics is doing.
"He was a very big energy. His spirit I really, sincerely hope, lives in our mission statements at Rebel," Carroll said. "We want to train students to tell a great story...in whatever creative outlet they choose. But we also want to help raise young artists that are brave enough to tell their own story."
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