We recently connected with Mona Wood-Patterson and have shared our conversation below.

Mona, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of having my own theatre. This first took the form of my parents’ garage and backyards and later led to my theatrical studies as a young adult.

I began directing for church groups and community theatres and then had the privilege of building a high school theatre program where I created with students for over two decades. Along the way, my husband/tech director Charles Ford and I founded Merely Players, a non-profit theatre company. When we left the high school setting, we pursued Merely Players full time.

The early years were spent creating in found spaces all over the county. This involved renting spaces for production and storage wherever we could find them, rehearsing and building offsite, then moving everything into the space and preparing for a production with only one or two weeks to go. Over the years, we had accumulated everything we need to run a theatre except a building. Although this was great fun, the energy required was not sustainable. We began to imagine having our own theatre space.

We imagined a space where we can store all of the equipment, props, furniture, lumber, and costumes that were scattered across town in various storage units.

We imagined a space where we can rehearse and teach classes on our own timeframe, without having to move props and sound equipment and costumes back and forth at every rehearsal. Where we don’t have to restage an entire show in two weeks. Where we don’t have to work around other schedules.

We imagined a place where we can build onsite, where sets don’t have to be modular so that they can be moved and reconstructed, where lights can stay hung on a grid, where strike means taking things down the hall instead of loading them into a moving truck and unloading them in the dark.

We envisioned a space where everyone who enters the doors will feel safe, welcome, valued, and creative – where each individual can personally grow as a theatrical artist and collectively grow as a part of a theatre family. A place filled with joy.

In 2020, when we were forced to cancel our productions and when theatres all over the country were closing and cutting back, we were given an unexpected pandemic blessing. Amidst the pandemic’s uncertainties, an opportunity emerged when a 6700 sq. ft basement became available for rent. The decision to sign the lease was not without risks, but it was driven by our unwavering determination and belief in the transformative power of art. For 14 months, when theatres were closed, we renovated the building to create our own theatre. Despite social distancing guidelines and restricted movement, we mobilized a team of dedicated volunteers. Armed with determination, paintbrushes, and an unyielding passion for theatre, we set out to transform the neglected space into a haven of creativity.

Backed by community support and enthusiasm, we opened Merely Underground in the fall of 2021. It is a serendipitous, funky space that is a playground of possibility. My lifelong dream has become a reality, and we are now embarking on our third season in Merely Underground, as we gratefully continue nurturing the creative spirit and enriching lives of our community through the magic of theatre.I want to encourage anyone with a big dream to keep dreaming it. Once you put the idea out there into the universe, it truly can happen.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

There was never a doubt in my mind that a career in the theatre was what would make me most happy.

I have loved teaching hundreds of students and directing adult actors in the nearly 200 shows that I have helmed over the years. Although I have been offered jobs in cities and tempted by a larger theatre scene, I have chosen to remain in Durango, Colorado, a small rural town in Southwest Colorado. In the fervent belief that quality theatre should not be an urban privilege, Merely Players is committed to enriching the cultural life of our community by providing quality theatre in the Southwest region. We believe that a vibrant artistic scene enhances a community and that the performing arts are vital.

It is a huge bonus for any theatre director to marry a technical theatre genius; Charles Ford is my companion in both my personal and my professional life. Together, we have built an incredible theatre team, and we continue to welcome new people with open hearts.

Our established reputation for theatrical excellence propels us into our 29th year, and we remain committed to offering exciting, high-quality theatrical experiences filled with lively creativity, joyful energy, memorable design, fine scripts, and the outstanding talent that our company is known for.

Truly, I am fortunate to have found a job where passion meets purpose.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Humans are best when we connect, and theatre is unique in that the stories that we tell reach across time and space to create human understanding.

A driving vision is that Merely Players celebrates the dignity and inherent potential of every human. We aspire to create a community built on respect, belonging, diversity, inclusion, collaboration, and creativity.

The dynamic of hundreds of diverse people coming together to create and share with our community never gets old.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During the pandemic shutdown, I quickly realized that we were going to have to find new ways to keep our community of artists together and to keep our audience members engaged. As is the case with everyone, we had no idea how long this shutdown would last, but I knew that our actors were longing for creative opportunity.

I adapted ALICE IN WONDERLAND for the screen, a first in our history. In collaboration with fx creator Charles Ford, and the brilliant editor, Adam Fontana, I reached out to our team and created ZOOM ALICE (you can see that on our YouTube channel). Actors picked up costumes from our driveway and videoed themselves saying their lines. Everyone sent their lines in, and Adam added his magic to make a fun movie. We closed live performances on March 12 and had ZOOM ALICE ready to go by June. It was a quick pivot, indeed! Audiences members helped us out by buying tickets so that our company could continue paying the bills.

ZOOM ALICE was such a success that we also created a streamed version of Will Eno’s WAKEY, WAKEY. This was not as easy as it sounds, for the actors were not able to be in the same room at that point. We rehearsed separately and then they videoed themselves, and Charles Ford spliced them together in dialogue. It was pretty magical (but the kind of magic that comes from hard work) when it all fit.

I also conceived of a Zoom series called WAITING IN THE WINGS, in which we interviewed some of our wonderful company members in a tag format.

While I’m glad that streaming is no longer a necessity, this adaptability achieved the goal of keeping our name and brand out there, while providing creative outlets for our team.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.merelyplayers.org
• Instagram: merely_players_durango
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merelyplayers.org
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6O4VslfozFwmpSXuZ3AdQg

Image Credits
Kara Collins Cavalca