Christine Grenier

Christine works as an actor, educator and mechanical engineer with the mission to turn STEM into STEAM. In May of 2010, Christine founded the Grenier Educational Theater Group, Inc. (GET Group) with the intention of combining her love for acting with her love for education. GET Group is featured in the 2012/2013 fall edition of the New York Department of Education Arts and Cultural Services Guide. Raised as a child performer in both music and acting, Christine attended conservatory at Boston University. She went on to pursue physics, "Just to learn something completely different". After earning her degree in physics from Boston University, Christine worked as a research specialist in the field of aeronomy (upper atmospheric science). But acting was still in her heart, so in 2003, she moved to New York City where she worked as an actress while earning income as a math teacher. She appeared in various venues throughout the city, working regularly with theater companies including The 52nd Street Project and Falconworks Artists Group. She earned the 2006 Best Actress Award, presented by The Looking Glass Theatre, for her portrayal of "Linny" in Hustlers. Meanwhile, Christine grew passionate for teaching as well as acting, and began to dream of an opportunity to merge both. When she learned that her students were studying Shakespeare's The Tempest in Literature class, she saw an exciting opportunity. She gathered a troupe of actors to deliver a surprise performance of the play for them. In this production, she played the role of Miranda and wrote the musical score. For Christine, the inspiration to produce the play came from reflecting on her own experience in school where the teaching of Shakespeare's works always seemed rushed and inevitably ended in a written test. She felt the prose never had time to be savored and appreciated, and her dream was to change the experience for her own students. With much acclaim from parents, teachers, school administrators and students, she went on to incorporate The Grenier Educational Theater Group in 2010. After a few years of success leading GET Group, Christine ran out of funds to sustain the company. She took an offer to become an engineer in the field of diesel performance within a large corporation. This was a positive change at the time; it granted her experience in an entirely different area of work. It was also inspiring to her to think that one day, returning to acting, she would have grown ability to portray a large diversity characters across radically different work and social environments. In 2016, after a traumatic, life-changing tragedy in her workplace, Christine was surprised at her reaction to remain close to her fellow colleagues rather than immediately seek reassignment. She grew dependent upon the resultant bond that developed within her team. It took her several years to realize her dependency, and when she later saw the film Collateral Beauty, she felt as though it was okay to recognize the blessing that resulted from her own tragedy. She realized that she could break free from commitment to the work environment that was keeping her trapped in trauma. She refocused, and set new goals. Triumphantly, In 2018, she left the company to return to her perpetual love: acting.