Hidden Gems: Meet Mark Walden of Shark Box Theatre Company

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Walden.

Hi Mark, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
As a student at the Colorado School of Mines, I sat on the executive board of Mines Little Theatre from 2016-2018 (The campus theatre organization). My fellow board members and I always dreamed of reconvening once we had made some money in our respective engineering fields to create what we called at the time “Mines Bigger Theatre.” As life tends to do, it took us all in different directions, scattered across the world, further complicating our goal. As COVID changed the way we live in this world, it also changed the way I thought about my own world. After the end was in sight for what seemed like years of lockdown I came up with a mantra I hold dear to my heart, which is “Every minute spent dreaming is a moment spent not living your dreams.” This empowered me to turn my dream into reality, even though I felt less than financially and physically capable of doing so. I could sit around waiting and dreaming of a day that may or may not come when we were all together again, and ready to make it happen, or I could step up. In February of 2021, Shark Box Theatre Company was born. The story of the name is one entwined with my own essence, and requires a flashback to the year 2000, when 4-year-old Mark got dealt a royal flush as his very first poker hand ever played. My uncle, Dave Walden, is credited with calling me a card shark at our every meeting from then on. This name stuck around in various permutations, the most prevalent of which simply being “Shark.” The addition of “box” comes from our ultimate goal of one day owning a small black box theatre style venue, and because I thought the visual of a shark inside a cardboard box was mind-bogglingly hilarious.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing is easy. From the outside, one might say that Shark Box has been a smooth and successful ride. But every aspect has been a challenge I had to tackle and overcome. From a young age, I was taught to provide favors, not ask for them. It became a part of my essence. In order to be successful in this endeavor, I had to re-write my wiring, and call in every single favor karma ever “owed” me and then some. Every step of the way required a village, and to my surprise, people from every facet of my life came running to support in whatever way they could. Shark Box Theatre is an amalgamation of darn near every person I have ever met, offering their kindness, love, support, and assistance.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Shark Box Theatre Company is an award winning live theatre that specializes in comedy and farce. The world thrusts enough darkness upon us every day without asking, and so we are here to remind people that there is fun and light and laughs in this world. We put on about 1 show a year, in various venues throughout Denver and its surrounding areas (so far, the Denver highlands, Golden, and Conifer). While we are not exclusively engineers, we have a higher percentage of engineers than most theatres. For example, in our last production (The Play That Goes Wrong), 20 participants were engineers by trade. The engineering backgrounds shine through in their creative resilience. We’ve navigated logistical challenges like designing modular sets adaptable to various performance venues, ensuring smooth transitions from rehearsal to stage, as well as sets that intentionally fall apart every night in safe and repeatable manners (The Play That Goes Wrong). I want it to be clear that Shark Box is open to anyone and everyone. One of the platforms on which we base our existence is that you don’t have to have studied for a decade at some fancy school to be able to express yourself artistically. It is happenstance that so many of us are engineers, as that is the network we had when Shark Box was born, but it has evolved to include many other backgrounds. Something that sets us aside is that we have set a focus on green theatre practices since our inception. New set pieces have been designed such that they can be *infinitely re-used in any orientation for any show, and they have been built using tools powered by solar energy. Additionally, we were able to power all of our stage lights and sound equipment from solar energy during our entire rehearsal process for our last show. We were able to offset the use of about 100 kilowatt-hours of grid energy by using our own solar energy, equating to just under 100 pounds of CO2 emissions saved. We expect to have a similar (or larger) offset for all future shows.

I am the owner of Shark Box Theatre Company. I have had to wear every hat for every facet of the business at some time or another. These responsibilities have included but are not limited to the following: Web development, marketing, finance, directing and Technical directing, costuming, set design/fabrication, etc. Since that is a mouth full, and there are no rules about this sort of thing, I have decided to dub myself the official title of “Head of Shipping and Receiving.”

While Shark Box is my passion project, I am also a full-time life support engineer for the manned ORION spacecraft of the NASA Artemis missions to land humankind on the moon and mars.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
While this is an impossible question to answer in finality, several of the stories that came to mind surround the elaborate scavenger-hunt / escape-room-esque egg hunts my parents would curate for my siblings and myself every easter. They were so creative, intentional, and whimsical, and I believe it has much to do with the way I approach the world to this day.

Pricing:

• Pricing is specific to each individual show/venue (range from $15-$25)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sharkboxtheatre.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharkboxtheatre/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SharkBoxTheatre/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/105922481/admin/dashboard/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SharkBoxTheatre

Image Credits
Dalton Metz Mark Walden