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.

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.

“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 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.

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.

According to Wilkie, an organization like this on campus has not existed in the last 30 years. Additionally, shows usually are only directed by students when it’s part of a senior project. Meraki breaks all those rules.

You may remember Meraki’s debut in 2019, a collaboration with Hamline Theater for Robin Hood on the Lawn. Typically the “On the Lawn” shows are reserved for student directors working through Hamline University Theatre & Dance Program.

I asked what their relationship currently is with Hamline Theater and how they differentiate themselves. As all of their productions are on campus, it’s easy to see them as an extension of the department, especially with Meraki continuing to do the On the Lawn productions.

“Originally we were just doing a collab [Robin Hood On the Lawn] and that was both the theater department and Meraki,” Wilkie explained.

But when it was time to move on to Meraki’s next show, the theater’s schedule was not coinciding with theirs. This led Meraki’s second production, Wonderland, to find its home in Manor’s Main Hall.

We just want to create additional opportunities for students so we decided to remove ourselves from the physical theater space so we’re not stepping on any toes but we’re still on campus and available to students.

-Autumn Wilkie

Though the company doesn’t have much to their name yet, it doesn’t stop them from putting on a show. Every show the company has performed has been written by Wilkie, who previously had no playwriting experience.

The writing process starts months before the first rehearsal, with the first stages of Wonderland coming to fruition as their production of Robin Hood was ending. Since the group has no budget available, all shows are currently adaptations of stories in the public domain. After asking the Meraki cast members what they wanted to do next, the group voted to do an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

I knew I wanted the show to focus on mental health awareness and giving the show an adult twist. I researched the origin story and read a lot of old drafts from Lewis Carroll for inspiration on the new twists.

- Autumn Wilkie

Wilkie continued: "After auditions I had a better sense of the cast’s abilities and how they could portray characters so I finished a first draft of the script for our first rehearsal.”

This was not the last draft of the show, as the actors got to mold their characters and performances as rehearsals continued.

This detail completely changes how their company works, as their actors have full creative liberty over how the role is played.

Ellie Dunn, a theater major from the University of Essex, was cast as Alice in the winter production of Wonderland. She commented on how different the show’s rehearsals were because actors had the playwright available to answer any questions.

“Being able to work with the writer and the director, you get firsthand experience of producing the show which is really nice,” Dunn said. “I feel like you can get a bit closer to the text as characters and actors 'cause you understand it that much more because they’re there.”

It’s clear that the passion Luna and Wilkie have for theater is infectious. They plan on continuing their productions at Hamline and possibly expanding to a theater off campus.

“This isn’t Autumn’s fun little art project, this isn’t MJ’s fun little art project,” Wilkie said. “This isn’t Meraki takes over Hamline. This is how we as students can work together to create the art that we want to see in our society.”

The two directors entered their company into the Fringe Festival lottery last fall and were lucky enough to win. They now have the opportunity to perform a show at the festival in August in front of thousands of theater enthusiasts in Minnesota—providing the festival isn’t cancelled or postponed due to coronavirus. Regardless, Meraki has accomplished much in their first year and has no plans of stopping.