SPOTLIGHT: Patti Somerville

Zahra Somerville-Borowski lent her star power to the March 2024 performance of James & The Giant Peach as Centipede

 
MERC: Your daughter Zahra was in Beauty and the Beast last year and James and the Giant Peach this past winter. What were some of the roles you took on in the theater?

PATTI: I helped backstage during the performances to make sure that the kids were being quiet, which for the most part they were. I also helped selling refreshments. I helped with tear down and that’s about it. I didn't really do any costuming, but I would like to.

MERC: You had a child rehearsing & learning songs. What did that make home life like?
 
PATTI: So, Zahra likes to make a recording of the script, leaving out her part. She then listens to it on her headphones and says her part when the line comes up. I helped her a little bit with running lines, but honestly, for the most part she did it on her own. She also got her brothers to help every once in a while. The music was pretty fun because she got to kind of do her own thing a little bit, and it was really exciting for her. It was the first time for her to sing solos, so that was pretty thrilling.  She sang those a lot for me and I helped her with her cadence. She was basically a kid walking around with headphones on, ignoring me.  It's amazing how fast those little brains can pick it up and learn it.  She's not a nervous kid, really, so there weren't a lot of nerves about it — she's pretty confident.
 
MERC: When did you realize that your child would have star power?
 
PATTI:  She was in Annie in a Methow Valley Community Theatre performance when she was about five as a little orphan — the orphans pretty much steal the show.  They were adorable, dirty faces with little aprons on, dancing, all at the age of five!  I was like ‘yeah this is her jam!’  She thoroughly enjoys this.  If you want to take it back even further, at Little Star they had a graduation performance. She was Tinkerbell, and she's my kid, but she was like ‘no problem, I’m right up there with the lead role.’ She’s amazing. I think she kind of came out of the womb like that though. Her older brothers are not into it but she has no issues.
 
MERC: Is there a show that would lure you on stage as a theater parent?
 
PATTI:  That is a good question. I'm not a stage performer but I would do something involving my daughter and I; I would have to be fully masked.  I don't really have it in me to stand up there on stage and perform for people, but you never know.  Maybe something not musical —  I couldn't sing, but the kid shows are amazing so you know you never know. Never say never, right?
 
MERC: If you had to describe or pitch The Merc to someone who’s never been there before, what is your elevator pitch?
 
PATTI: I would tell them that The Merc Playhouse is the best little theater in the West!  To put on the caliber of performances the Merc does is amazing!  Anybody who's anybody who loves theater should go and check it out because it's always a high-quality performance — not exactly what you would expect on the corner of Glover and 2nd Street in Twisp, you know.

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