Next Generation: Xavier Carbonneau

Asking the right questions and sparking a sense of curiosity are two of the key components one might ascribe to a student pursuing journalism and psychology. And for Augustana University senior Xavier Carbonneau, these attributes carry a dual purpose in his extracurricular life in the school’s theatre program.

Xavier Carbonneau

“I think if you look at all of my majors and all the things I do, it's all people-focused and it all comes from this deep curiosity of wanting to know things,” he said. “I think portraying characters — it's really getting to know them and figuring out who they are and how they would act in certain situations. Asking questions about them and about yourself.

“I think those things are also very true of journalism and psychology. Most of it is asking people the right questions, figuring out who they are. It's really just knowing people, knowing yourself in order to know others. And it's such an interpersonal thing, too.”

The double-major Minnesota native had no initial intention of keeping theatre a part of his life in the collegiate setting, but this same curiosity played a hefty role in compelling him to Augustana’s Edith Mortensen Center time and again.

“I had one of my freshman welcome week guides, Annika Paulsen, really encourage me to audition for the first play of the year at Augie,” said Carbonneau, who grew up in the Minneapolis area doing children’s theatre before moving to Luverne and focusing on speech and mock-trial in high school there. “It was Radium Girls, and I'm so grateful for that. I've met a lot of great people. I've had a ton of fun acting and then also getting into doing some lighting, doing some props, working behind the scenes, which I had never done in high school.”

That level of community has been one of the primary reasons Carbonneau, a non-major, has continued to make Augustana’s theatre program a part of his college experience.

“It's such a supportive community,” he said. “I think it's just so great to have that community, of so many different people from different disciplines. My class, in particular — we don't have any theater majors or minors, and yet we're one of the most active ones in the theatre. I think it's great bringing all these people together, bringing their experiences in art, in psychology, in government, in history and education. I think that's pretty cool how eclectic the group is”

This cross-section of interests and pursuits has created an environment of learning from peers that Carbonneau has valued as both as a theatre artist himself and as a person.

Xavier Carbonneau (right) performs alongside Vaughn Schneider in Augustana University’s Spring 2024 performance of This is My Body.

“Coming to Augie, I think it's been great to look up to both student directors and faculty directors,” he said. “Neil Peltier, Annika (Paulsen), my girlfriend Mikennah (Oleson), who's writing plays and gave a great performance in This is My Body that I could never match. I think it's those personal connections that really inspire me.”

This exposure to not only different performing approaches, but also various behind-the-scenes disciplines that the theatre artist hadn’t experienced in a secondary setting, has given him a newfound appreciation for all the elements that comprise a production.

“There’s so much that in high school I didn't even really think about — how much lighting adds to a show, for instance,” he said. “Just yesterday I saw a final dress rehearsal, and just incorporating the lighting from that first dress to this dress, it added so much. All of the emotional beats hit better, the songs were more impactful and the only thing that changed was they added lighting.

“I think for most people when you're sitting in the theater, if it goes well, you don't even think about it. You don't even realize it's a thing that's happening. And so I think it's those things that I just have so much more respect for because the goal with most technical elements is that the audience comes out and that's not what they're talking about.”

This continued exploration of his practice has developed a drive for Carbonneau to continue his theatre experiences beyond the confines of campus, whether that’s community theatre or theatre appreciation. He doesn’t anticipate parting with it for any great length of time in his future life.

“I think it's just always new and it's always exciting,” he said. “I think that's what I love about journalism and psychology, too —every day it's something new. I think there's just so much discovery in acting and finding new ways to do things — new ways to interpret things. There's just such an interesting collaboration in finding out new things together and learning together. I think that’ really what brings me back.

“There's something about the impermanence, as well, that I think is really beautiful as you put something on and then it's gone. It’s only in your memories and the memories of people who have seen it.”