Redwood Grad Makes Dramatic Return in MTC's 'Bellwether'

If you’re serious about becoming a stage actor, you go to New York. Patrick Jones, Redwood High class of ’95, did just that six years ago, and even achieved a measure of success. But he’s here to tell you that you can go home again, and sometimes you should.

In other words, he’s found the “more sustainable and satisfying life” he sought when he came back to the Bay Area about two years ago. Just since May, he’s been in three plays: Metamorphosis, an adaptation of Kafka’s famed story, at the Aurora Theatre, in Berkeley; Exit, Pursued by a Bear, at Crowded Fire Theater, in the city; and the world premiere of Bellwether, Steve Yockey’s “spine-tingling fairy tale for adults,” which is currently gaining another set of fine reviews for Marin Theatre Company here in Mill Valley.

He’s even back at Redwood High—not as a student, of course.

Jones was always interested in drama, he says, as a kid splitting his free time between skateboarding, playing baseball, and acting. “I got a big kick out of all the attention,” he says. “And I liked how diverse and exciting it was, and the sense of community.”

That’s exactly what Jones did not feel in New York, where he went after graduating with an MFA in acting from Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland.

“I did all the usual stuff: got an agent, bought the polyester/cotton tuxedo and started catering, had a little apartment in Queens.” After a couple of years, he was working regularly, but most often elsewhere: He’d fly off to perform in Denver, Vermont, Kentucky, then come back and start catering again.

Eventually, “I fired the agent, threw away the tux,” and returned to the Bay Area, where his parents live in Madrone Canyon. Now he’s not only a busy actor but an artist in residence at Redwood, working with his mentor, Britt Block. “Redwood has a really wonderful drama program,” Jones enthuses. “It’s a little bigger now, with two full-time drama teachers and three beginning classes, two intermediate classes, and one large advanced class.”

At Redwood, Jones coaches the drama students on monologues and scenes, advises seniors, and leads or contributes to workshops on assorted subjects. He’s also been a part of MTC’s School Tour program, which brings professional theater into local elementary schools. (According to MTC communications director Sasha Hnatkovich, each year about 4,500 students see those plays.)

“Now I’m not just showing up and leaving again,” Jones says. “Just last Tuesday, I was teaching at Redwood and then went to MTC for the opening night of Bellwether. I felt a huge sense of pride to be back in Marin, feeling like a vital part of this community, feeling like an artist, and also feeling I was giving back after being given so much while growing up here.”

IF YOU GO:
• Through Oct. 30, Bellwether, Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley, 415-388-5200.