by PATRICK LEJTENYI

It’s an appropriate surname, anyway. Alison Louder, the 22-year-old actress and activist, landed herself the plum lead role last autumn on a citywide stage as one of the main spokespeople denouncing the Parc Ave. name change, and got a crash course in city politics as a reward.

Louder grew up in the neighbourhood and still lives there. She has fond memories of Parc Avenue, and says she won’t be sitting idly by as the mayor rams through his decision to name it after his former boss, late Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa. The recent burst of activity has been a new experience, one that she seems to be handling well, despite her neophyte status.

“The past eight weeks have been very informative, and it’s something I’ve tried to keep up to speed with,” she says over a cup of coffee at Navarino, on the corner of Parc and St-Viateur. She approached friends and acquaintances, and her parents, to get tips on navigating the rocky shoals of municipal bureaucracy, and even found herself an anonymous insider who sent her helpful documents about the name change plan. She works closely with the Parc Avenue Merchants’ Association, which recently hired a legal duo consisting of Julius Grey and May Chiu. Their strategy, announced in mid-December, will consist of hitting the provincial toponymy commission, the Quebec Superior Court and the city ombudsman simultaneously with written demands to quash the change.

Despite her recent foray into city politics, Louder still has found time to line up some juicy acting gigs in 2007. She’ll be going from the sublime to the slashey, first playing Audrey, one of Shakespeare’s few female clowns, in the Bard’s As You Like It, then in indie horror flick Rise of the Ghosts, which has already started shooting. She’ll also be reading for a one-woman show to be directed by Brit transplant Owen Belgrave, and will be appearing in StagNation at next summer’s Fringe festival. “It’s about poking fun at politically-correct stereotypes,” she says.

Louder welcomes the recent mixing of politics with her art. “I’ve always believed in the theatre as a tool for social change,” she says. And for preventing change.