CANAAN — Carter Nadeau didn’t enter Mascoma Valley Regional High School four years ago expecting to immerse himself in theater, but that’s what happened.
His gateway was Mascoma Audio Visual, a club, and now nonprofit, comprised of students who record school events and produce short films, which his friends encouraged him to take part in when he was a freshman.
From there, he helped out doing tech for student plays, before landing an acting role in the musical “Ride the Cyclone” in his junior year.
As Nadeau, 18, prepared for Friday’s commencement ceremony, he reflected on the role theater has played in his high school career.
Participating in shows has pushed him to venture outside of his comfort zone. It’s given him the motivation to apply himself academically, something he struggled with in the first couple years at Mascoma.
Being part of a cast has also taught him about kindness and working as a team.
“A lot of what theater is is aiding each other,” Nadeau said.
Nadeau decided he wanted to get involved in theater “in one way or another” after he saw Mascoma’s 2023 production of “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” when he was a freshman, he said.
The following year, he was part of tech for “Freaky Friday.”
“I saved the show a few times, actually,” Nadeau said. One night, students lost the hourglass that catalyzes the body-swap between the mother and daughter protagonists, and Nadeau dashed across the stage to find it in time.
“That was my first big moment with theater,” he said.
He continued to work on school shows behind the scenes, doing tech for productions such as “Arsenic and Old Lace,” a dark comedy about a pair of women who murder lonely men with elderberry wine infused with poison.
And he continued to participate in Mascoma Audio Visual, or AV, streaming basketball games and school graduations and working on short films with his friends.
In Nadeau’s junior year, students in AV decided to put on their own play: “Ride the Cyclone,” a musical about a student choir who perish in a roller coaster accident. Stuck in limbo, the students are given a second chance at life when a mechanical fortune teller challenges them to share their stories in a singing competition.
Nadeau wasn’t planning on being in the cast, but when the group came up an actor short, they asked him to step into the role of Ricky Potts, a creative dreamer with a big solo.
Although Nadeau had participated in chorus for about a year at the time, he’d never performed like that before. “I was very skeptical about whether I’d be able to do it,” he said.
When it came time for his big solo, Nadeau walked out on stage alone. He was so nervous, his hands went numb.
“It was kind of like ‘Man, I’m really about to do this,’ ” he said. But in spite of his nerves, he made it through the song.
He credits his friends in the play for encouraging him and helping him have fun. Performing in the show also unlocked a new social circle; actors tend to band together.
“When I got on stage and started acting, I started to know these people more,” he said.
By the time “Ride the Cyclone” wrapped, Nadeau had caught the acting bug. He went on to play Herbert Pocket, protagonist Pip’s best friend, in “Great Expectations” last fall, and the Tin Man in Mascoma’s recent production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
He still got nervous, but he felt more confident since “Ride the Cyclone.”
His participation on stage was as much a shock to him as it was to his parents.
It’s been “amazing to see him in that setting and enjoying himself and being vulnerable…,” his mom, Tracy Nadeau, said.
As Nadeau found his footing on stage, his academic standing improved. For the first couple years of high school, he struggled to get his work in on time.
“It was more or less because I lacked the motivation to do my work,” Nadeau said. He acknowledged that ADHD can make it difficult for him to concentrate.
His friends at the time were also prone to skipping class, which didn’t help motivate him to do his work, he said.
The death of Nadeau’s grandmother during his sophomore year had an effect on his grades and mental health as well, his mom said. She had lived next door to the Nadeaus, in Canaan.
Nadeau spent almost every day with his grandmother after his grandfather died, while Nadeau was in middle school. They’d run errands together, and she helped Nadeau and his twin sister practice for their driving test.
“She was the biggest part of my life,” he said.
After his grandmother died at 68 following complications from a surgery, Nadeau moved into her house to take care of her cat and water her plants. He even drives her old car, a 2017 Subaru Legacy.
As Nadeau got more involved with theater, he started to feel more motivated about school and his grades improved.
It helped to latch “onto something that would allow me to do my work,” he said.
He worked hard to make up the missing credits, taking summer classes and beefing up his senior schedule, Tracy Nadeau said.
After graduation, he plans to take a gap year to figure out what he wants to do next.
He’s got a job in the kitchen at Jake’s Market and Deli in Enfield, and he hopes to spend the summer learning to play guitar and read music.
He bought a guitar off of Facebook Marketplace and he an inherited another one from his grandmother, Tracy Nadeau said.
The future might be uncertain, but Nadeau said he hopes theater will be a part of it.
Mascoma Valley Regional High School class of 2026: Zofia Jane Adams, undecided; Ella
Marie Albanese, gap year; Quinn Raymond Ardolino, professional theater; Mason Robert Ballard, Eastern Hockey League; Bryce Joseph Ballou, New Hampshire Technical Institute; Brayden Levi Bashaw, Lakes Region Community College; Owen Marie Brock, Alfred University, criminal justice studies; Carter Scott Brown, U.S. Navy, aviation support technician; Colin James Burns, Plymouth State University; Dylan Reid Keanu Cannon, Lakes Region Community College, fire science; Liam Joseph Carriere, Plymouth State University; Gage Ryan Charbono, workforce, Dyers Welding; Aaralyn Haze Chiasson, undecided; Jacob Patrick Christian, Paul Smith’s College; Grace Ellen Clifford, workforce, Simple Energy; Dylan Matthew Colburn, Manchester Community College, lineman; Myah Marie Crandall, Coppin State University, accounting; Allie Leta Curtis, New Hampshire Technical Institute, ultrasound program; Jenna Marie Danyow, workforce, Montessori Discovery School in Lebanon; Barnabus Philip Reed Diehn, The Pennsylvania State University, kinesiology; Allyson Nikole Downing, Rochester Institute of Technology; Anna Brooke Emerson, University of New Hampshire, nursing; Evey Rose Fellers, gap year; Aero Enzo Finger, Quinnipiac University, psychology and sociology, accelerated master’s degree program in social work; Xyler Donovan Fitzgerald, Southern New Hampshire University; Justin David Fletcher Jr., New England College, sport and recreation management; Cheyenne Hope Grace, Colby-Sawyer College, nursing; Jacob
Scott Grose, undecided; Forrest Steven Guitar, gap year; Samantha Kathleen Harkins, University of Maine -Orono, mechanical engineering technology; Aidan Lucas Hemmerling, University of New Hampshire, biomedical engineering; Connor Andrew Hemmerling, University of New Hampshire, environmental science; Mariah Lynn Hicks, culinary arts; Trinity Bliss Hill, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, aerospace engineering and nuclear engineering; Baylee Olivia Hill, Ithaca College, accounting; Leah Seain Hodge,
Paul Mitchell The School Portsmouth, cosmetology; Blake Liam Horn, Landmark College; Rosalyn Muriel Ibey, gap year; Adeline Sophia Josephson, Clark University, elementary education; Sikas Levi Jukosky, Hendrix College; Zachary Robert Kenney, workforce; Olivia Marie Kierstead, gap year; Georgia May Kondi, University of Connecticut, nutritional sciences; Gabe Christopher Lambert, gap year; Gavin Walter Lemay, workforce, MB Pro Landscape and Design; Declan John Lyons, Plymouth State University, business administration; Jennai Gabriella Maxwell, art school; Eleanor Claire McGrody, James Madison University; Sara Lauren McKinney, Plymouth State University, nursing; Aubrey Elizabeth Meyveagaci, Plymouth State University, nursing; Jayden Robert Montebianchi, workforce, auto body; Jack Robert Morse, entrepreneur, Morse Property Improvements; Ryan Clayton Morse, University of New Hampshire, chemical engineering; Colin William Myers, Paul Smith’s College, forestry operations; Carter James Nadeau, gap year; Addison Grace Nadeau, workforce, Shaw’s Supermarket; Finn Arden Nerney, Plymouth State University, biochemistry; Jay Palmer, Wheaton College; Serenity Ruth Perry, gap year; Jayden James Piano, Plymouth State University, accounting; Brayden Philip Pierce, workforce, ARC Mechanical Contractors; Jacob Rodger Rayno, Norwich University; Paxton Lee Roberts; U.S. Air Force; Sonya Lynn Roberts, Arizona State University; Charlotte Lucille Robillard, aerospace engineering; Jacob Allen Rogers, workforce, carpentry; Kyle Joseph Rostron, New England College, business; Kailey Aaliyah Stauff, workforce; Samara Fay Stevens, undecided; Eli William-Stuart Svahn, workforce, Jiffy Lube; Zander Chase Tyrie, electrical apprenticeship at Phoenix Electrical; Joaquin Schylor Underwood, The Pennsylvania State University, history; Audrey Reagan Webber, Mount Holyoke College, education and psychology; Ailia Celeste Westgate, Mount Holyoke College, neuroscience and educational psychology; Myles Parker Wetherbee, Plymouth State University, sports management; Sam Wallace Wilson, Champlain College; and Reece Cote Woodward, Mount Allison University, English literature.
