How Debut Helps Prepare Young People for Life’s Adventures
How Debut Helps Prepare Young People for Life’s Adventures
Featuring alumna Katie Houser (2010s)
When alumna Katie Houser looks back on her years at Debut Theatre Company, she can’t help but smile at how much she absorbed without even noticing it at the time. Debut has always been a place where young people try it all—acting, set building, lighting, costumes—and Katie happily threw herself into every corner of it. What she didn’t expect was just how much those rehearsals and backstage moments would shape the way she navigates adult life.
Learning Real-World Skills Before She Knew What They Were
At Debut, Katie and her castmates weren’t just memorizing lines. They were brainstorming, problem-solving, and figuring out how to bring big ideas to life on a small stage. At the time, it all felt like part of the fun. Only later did she realize those moments doubled as early lessons in collaboration, planning, and follow-through.
So it’s no surprise that right after high school, she stepped straight onto the boards of several nonprofit arts organizations—and has stayed in the arts ever since. Debut had already planted the seeds.
A Community That Became a Safe Third Space
One of Katie’s favorite parts of Debut was the variety of people she met. Her Debut friends came from schools all over the city, so it was a refreshing break from the usual social circles. Everyone was moving through their own teenage highs and lows, and Debut became that cozy “third space”—not home, not school, but a place where you could exhale.
There were late-night rehearsal giggles, group pep talks, and those butterflies right before opening night—all of it becoming part of the story of growing up.
Finding Her Voice (Literally and Figuratively)
Debut gave Katie countless opportunities to share ideas—how to play a moment differently, how to adjust a costume, how to make a scene really click. Those quick backstage conversations and cast discussions didn’t feel like “presentation practice,” but that’s exactly what they were.
Little did she know she was building communication chops she’d use constantly as an adult.
A Theatre Family That Keeps Crossing Paths
One of the most delightful parts of being involved in Fort Collins theatre is how often everyone crosses paths again. Years later, Katie still sees familiar faces from her Debut days—actors, designers, directors—popping up in new productions. It feels like a giant artistic family tree, with Debut as one of the earliest branches.
Finding Confidence Through Trial and Error
If theatre teaches anything, it’s how to bounce back. There’s always something to tweak, redo, or rethink—sometimes all in the same rehearsal. Katie says those repetitive cycles of “try it, adjust it, try again” helped her develop the healthy kind of thick skin: the kind that makes you open to feedback instead of afraid of it.
That resilience has served her well in every part of her life, not just the ones with a spotlight.
Seeing the Value in the Work No One Notices
Katie is the first to point out that the magic of theatre mostly comes from the “unsung parts”—the sets built after rehearsal, the costumes stitched in someone’s living room, the quiet problem-solving backstage. Most people never see those moments, but they’re the engine that keeps a show running.
Learning to value—and participate in—that behind-the-scenes work taught Katie how to be a teammate who supports the whole group, not just her part of the story.
The Ultimate Life Lesson: The Show Must Go On
If one principle has stuck with Katie the most, it’s this: the show must go on. Something will go wrong onstage. Something will go wrong in life. And when it does, you figure it out, keep your cool, and keep moving.
Take ownership. Adapt fast. Don’t let the small stuff stop the show. She learned that at Debut long before she ever had “real life” to apply it to.
For Katie, Debut wasn’t just a theatre program—it was a place to try, grow, stumble, learn, and discover what she was capable of. And those lessons continue to show up in every new adventure she takes on.
A pretty great dress rehearsal for adulthood, if you ask her.
