Merrill Community Arts Center Woodbury

Photo: Architects Rego + Youngquist

Dorothy Merrill was the kind of character that playwrights and fiction writers only wish they could conjure up: a gal who was as known for her love of Vegas blackjack tables as her love of saving every nickel by reusing Kleenex boxes and sewing all of her own clothes (in her signature color, red)—a gal who could be described as having feisty tendencies, but who fostered close relationships with local grocery store workers and her mail carrier, and a gal who tooled around town in a gleaming Cadillac (with red interior, of course), but clipped coupons with exuberance.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this wonderfully complex soul, who cared more for Woodbury than for the arts, bequeathed $2.3 million to build a new arts center in Woodbury.

“Dorothy Merrill’s gift is what made this whole thing possible,” says Michelle Witte, vice president of Arts Connection, the group that will manage the facility on behalf of itself and two affiliate groups, Woodbury Community Theatre (WCT) and East Metro Symphony Orchestra.

Arts Connection has worked collaboratively with School District 833 to bring the center to fruition, and hopes to break ground on the Merrill Community Arts Center—which will reside on the East Ridge High School (ERHS) grounds—sometime in the spring of 2012, with an opening date of fall 2012.

“The ultimate goal here is to create a community space that benefits our school district and the community at large,” says Amanda Hestwood, ERHS teacher and Loft Stage director.

The facility will encompass a 150-seat black box theater, scene shop, costume shop, art gallery, flex room and Arts Connection office. “In addition to being a small venue and rehearsal space for the school district and WCT, the Black Box Theater will also be used by Community Education as a hands-on learning environment, and as a green room, where those performers who will be on the Loft Stage can hang out,” says Witte.

But beyond that, Witte plans to bring new and exciting shows like book readings, garage band shows, East Metro Symphony Orchestra performances, traveling shows and others, to this smaller, more intimate, stage.

Brian Freeman, award-winning and best-selling author and Woodbury resident, is looking forward to holding some of those exciting events in the venue. “The reality is that you want a more intimate environment for readings, a space where the artist and the attendees feel more closely connected,” says Freeman, “who does 50 events per year. “I love the idea of trying to create something distinctive, and being able to road test it right here in my hometown.”

Woodbury Community Theatre has been searching for a home base since, quite literally, its inception in 1975. With a wealth of costumes in dilapidated semi-truck trailers, sets in a barn on a WCT member’s property, and the group always having to look far and wide for spaces to stage their many productions, it’s little wonder they are thrilled with the opportunity.

“We have done shows at churches, James J. Hill House, schools, basically anywhere we could,” says Lenore Weir, one of WCT’s original members. “The prospect of having a space like this is incredibly exciting, and to have a dedicated place where people know they can see our shows will be wonderful.”

Besides having a variety of performances in the Black Box Theater, the facility will include a small art gallery where local artists can display their work and hold formal gallery shows. Connie Kasella, a Woodbury artist who works with ink and colored pencils and is a member of Fine Artists Metro East (FAME), speaks to what she’s looking forward to in the new gallery. “There is an amazing thing that occurs when you have an artist and the crowd inter-act,” she says. “It’s something that truly is magical.”

Up with People Raising Funds for Arts Connection

The multinational cast of Up with People will hit the Loft Stage on Thursday, September 15 to raise funds for Arts Connection and the Merrill Community Arts Center. “Our show is a wonderful collaboration of music, dance and energy, and carries a message of hope and goodwill across nations,” says Julie Johnson, Up with People VP of sales and marketing.  For ticket information, visit Up With People or My Arts Connection.

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