Courtney Stewart leads La Boite Theatre in Brisbane with a focus on new Australian work by people from diverse communities

Courtney Stewart made her mainstage directorial debut in June 2022. A month later, she started as artistic director at La Boite. (Supplied: La Boite/David Kelly)

Courtney Stewart compares the brutal audition process for children's music group Hi-5 to singing competition juggernaut The X Factor.

Surviving a series of auditions in which a large group of hopefuls was culled by 50 per cent each day, she made it to the top 10 — but did not get the job: "I was so close! … It would've changed my life. It would've been amazing. [But] it wasn't meant to be."