Conversations: Monica L. Patton

Ragtime & The Path to Broadway: A Conversation With Monica L. Patton

In preparation for our production of Ragtime, we sat down with original Ragtime cast member Monica L. Patton for a conversation about Ragtime, art, and building a career in the theatre. Ragtime will run on the Harbison Theatre stage November 11-13. For more information on ticketing and showtimes, visit the show's page here.

Monica, thank you for joining us this afternoon! I’m excited to have the opportunity to chat with you and share a little bit about your experience with our audience. 

No problem! I’m happy to do it.

So I want to start off with the basics. Did you always know you wanted to be in the theatre?

I wanted to be two things as a child: either a singer or a butterfly (laughter). As much as I travel I feel like I’ve achieved both. 

(Laughter) That makes sense. So how did you go from singer/butterfly to getting involved in theatre?

I was always very creative and artistic. I used to write poetry and I was very introspective as a kid. My mom was a retired social worker at a mental hospital - so in our house we were often asked why we did what we did. We were introspective and I knew that creativity was my happy space.

I come from a very blue collar working class background in Ohio - they all worked at Chrysler or Ford. They were all very intelligent but working class, so they were creative but never really pursued it. When I chose the arts path - they said: ”Go forth. We don’t understand it, but go for it and keep doing what you're doing. 

That’s great that you had such support. How do you think it impacted you having the support of your family as you pursued your career? 

It was huge. When you’re a child you're at such an impressionable age - you may have a lot of dreams but they aren’t tangible without positive guidance. We are all nature and nurture, and you need someone to nurture you to be your best self, to be courageous - being an artist is courageous. I look back, and I was rarely unemployed for someone who’s a freelancer, but I made the decision that this is what I’m going to do. I have to be that journeyman and work towards that goal and put myself on the line. 

As an artist you’re a hero - to get out in front of thousands of people and pour your heart out - that starts young. People that are nurturing children and telling them that when they fall to get up it's okay - and when you fall to get up. We need people like that. 

So how did you get from Ohio to New York?

That’s easy - you just hop on 80-E and keep driving. (laughter)

(Laughter) Okay that’s fair. Better question: how did you decide to move to New York to pursue the arts. Tell me about that journey. 

Well at first I was classically trained in voice, and I thought I was going to sing opera - I was enamored with the life. I wanted the furs and the Svengalis (laughter). My mom took me to see Carmen and it was too boring so I went to school for dance instead. To graduate from dance school in my last year I figured out I would have to stay another year just to study Spanish - but that didn’t seem worth it. I had friends who skipped school and were already building careers, so I moved to Chicago to get started and started apprenticing with Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance theatre.  Chicago Dance theatre. 

And I had always been strategic with my summers. I had built up my resume in college, so after working in Chicago and having these internships I was set up to move to New York and I got cast in a tour of Oklahoma. From there it was like - boom boom boom. 

I got to New York in the early 90’s and commercial/corporate theatre was just about to explode. When I went to get measured for Ragtime we were measured at the Gershwin Theatre and I was like - this is crazy! Back in the day you auditioned on Broadway stages you were in the actual theatre. I remember I had an audition for Victor Victoria - I was 5 2’ standing up against 5 10’ and 6 ft. I think they kept me because they thought I was cute! (laughter) It was right on the edge where the theatre got very corporate. A lot of good things came with that like pension, vacation, and sick time, but we definitely lost some of the energy. Back then it was the Wild West and you were just running from show to show.