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| La Porte with McDonald Dixon on set |
Natalie La Porte is a trained actress who has been working in the crafts of theatre and film for almost twelve years. In March, 2000, she began working with legendary Irish director; Ellen O’ Malley-Camps, who had already done extensive theatre work in Ireland and Trinidad and had worked with the likes of Andre Tanker and Derek Walcott.
In 2001, still under the tutelage of Camps and after being directed by her in the role of ‘Lizzie’ in the Trinidadian play ‘Mary Could Dance’, Natalie joined several other St. Lucian actors, including her brother and sister and a league of Trinidadian artists in Ireland to perform the aforementioned ‘Mary’ and the Adrian Augier penned ‘Troumassay’. From there, in St. Lucia, Natalie became a founding member of Teyat Toutafe, a theatre group consisting St. Lucian and Trinidadian actors, writers and directors whose main focus was to increase the viability and visibility of theatre and film in St. Lucia and to give artists a place to exercise their creativity and realise their dreams.
In June 2004, she ventured to Trinidad with Derek Walcott to play ‘Yette’ in the Nobel Laureate’s ‘The Haitian Earth’. This would prove to be the first of several alliances between the actress and the award-winning writer as the next year, in 2005, she journeyed to Italy and Spain, this time with St. Lucian, Trinidadian and Italian actors, to participate in Walcott’s ‘The Odyssey’.
The following year, Natalie was graciously granted a scholarship by the French Embassy to expand her love, understanding of and relationship with theatre and film while getting the opportunity to gain writing, directing and television experience . She would be given two different distinct opportunities to go to France, seeing the land, firstly, in 2006 and again in 2008/9. Having come into contact with students in France who were studying the craft of radio, Natalie decided to try her hand at it and, in 2010 until present has been working in the field of radio in St. Lucia.
Despite finding radio more fun and intriguing than anticipated, Natalie continues her passionate quest to encompass the universes of theatre and film. She has worked with Drenia Frederick, Kendel Hippolyte, Gandolph St. Clair, George Alphonse to name a few, as well as McDonald Dixon, who joins her in her latest undertaking; Davina Lee’s all-St.Lucian debut, ‘The Coming of Org'.