Rohana Bjorkquist had been to a play and thought that looked like something she would like to do. So she auditioned for the play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Pequot Lakes and she got the part.
The family lived 20 miles from school and it was up to Mom to drive her to rehearsals. And being a "doer" type of person, rather than just sit there and wait for the rehearsal to end, Meredith asked if there was anything she could do to help.
Of course, there was. Every rehearsal, she sat and sewed costumes. If you saw the show, you know there were a whole lot of costumes.
Meredith is a seamstress by profession, but not a costumer or tailor. She's the person who takes the interior designer's idea and turns it into fabric reality. That means the drapes, the upholstery, the bedding, the pillows, etc.
"Someone has the vision and I have the magic wand to make it happen," Meredith said. "My day job is about making the customer happy."
She says she has a relationship with her sewing machines. She has her own studio - a 24- by 48-foot building - on their property. The family was almost as happy as she was when she was able to move all those fabrics and items off the dining room table into her own workshop.
Rohana had the acting bug and Meredith was beginning to catch on to what happens backstage. She took care of the props for "Honk" and then she took a technician class. Now she's the stage manager for Pequot Lakes Community Theatre.
"Stage manager is a juggling act," Meredith said. "I'm there if a button pops, or a zipper balks. I've got the needle and thread, the duct tape, the batteries, the super glue. It doesn't have to be right, but it has to be close. If it breaks, I fix it."
She says it's fun. In fact, it is so much fun she's convinced her husband, Jon, to take the tech training. Theater is a family affair for the Bjorkquists.
"It doesn't matter if it's a terrible day. You come to the theater and it's magical," Meredith said. "It's a pretend world. You don't have to be unhappy unless you want to be. "
According to Meredith, rehearsals are so much fun - even if you don't get home until after 10 p.m.
"All of us have an actor inside," she said. "It's projecting an artificial world to be as real as possible. It always works. The director figures out if it's going to work. The actor becomes the character. That's acting."
Meredith has chosen to take the supporting role backstage. She said the theater becomes a family and backstage is as much fun as on stage. However, she hasn't appeared on stage, so maybe a line or two in some future production may be hers.
Both Jon and Meredith grew up in Aitkin County - Jon in Jacobson and Meredith in Hill City. They have lived in the Twin Cities and in Duluth. Jon, who works for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, wanted to return to the lake country. He works out of the Aitkin MnDOT office. He not only installed computers in the MnDOT trucks, but he plows snow when needed.
Their son, Rick, is a student at Central Lakes College and will go to North Dakota State University to study mechanical engineering.
"He was one of those kids who always asked 'why,'" Meredith said. "He took things apart to see how they worked. We had Legos all over the house."
Rohana has appeared in several productions and has done some modeling. Meredith says she is very proud of the choices Rohana is making and the kind of person she wants to be.
"She's a dynamo," Meredith said. "She's thinking about careers as varied as journalism and sports medicine."
"All of us have a story," Meredith said. "It changes, it moves. You are really losing out if you don't take a look at it and change. If you have nothing to look forward to, you are not contributing."
Meredith said she is amazed at all the talent in the area. She's found a home in the theater.
"I'm so grateful Rohana wanted to get into theater."
