theater off the lawn WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ZULLY SOSA
Meraki Theater is a local theater company started by junior Autumn Wilkie and sophomore MJ Luna. In their first year of productions they’ve put on interpretations of Robin Hood and Alice in Wonderland, collaborated with the Hamline Theater Department and Spectrum, as well as won the Fringe Festival lottery this February.
you need to check, there’s not someone you need to get permission from, you can just do it if that’s what you want to do,” Luna said. “It was very inspiring, so Autumn came up to me in our hotel room and goes ‘Hey, you wanna start a theater company?’ and I go ‘Sure, why not.’” He laughs as he reenacts the shrug he gave her.
When asked what inspired them to start their own theater company, the two theater majors looked at each other and laughed. Last spring, Wilke and Luna shared a hotel room while attending the United States Institute for Theatre Technology conference and were inspired by the speakers motivating others to create art regardless of their situation.
This is something Wilkie says she has always wanted to try, even before the theater conference. “I always kinda joked with people like ‘oh when I go to college I’m gonna find someone and start a theater company with them.’”Advice from the speakers at the conference gave her the final push to try, as she agreed with their philosophy of creating art no matter the boundaries. “If you’re passionate about something and you know what kind of stories you want to put up on stage, just do it,” Wilkie said.
“One of the things that a lot of the sessions were about was that you can just make art. Like there’s not a form 12 | UNTOLD
