Executive director Matt Hornbeck and managing director Roxy Hornbeck took time recently to discuss Seattle's quiet, a company that seeks to produce more than theater each season.
Can you tell us a little about the company's goals?
Roxy: quiet’s goal is to be a beacon of discussion with art as its vehicle. In more specific terms, quiet is a multidisciplinary arts community that seeks to create events, programs and opportunities in which art and audience come together to dialogue about social and personal change issues.
Matt: Central to that aim is collaboration. Collaboration breeds dialogue, and quiet believes that it is through dialogue that we can participate in social change and personal transformation.
There are so many groups producing theater in Seattle: what niche does quiet fill that the others don't?
Matt: While we will always be working on projects generated from within the quiet community, it is a central principle that each project we do has a component of collaboration within it. This can look like our partnerships with social organizations like Eastside Domestic Violence Program (EDVP), the Northwest Men’s Project (NWMP), and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), or our involvement in the up-coming event “Barnstorm: The Cabaret Re-Imagined,” in which we are working closely with Rainy Night Productions and the Heroes to produce an up-dated envisioning of the 17th century cabarets.
Each season you plan to focus specific themes: what is the theme for 2011?
Roxy: For the 2011 season, we are exploring gender issues. Since it is theme-based, quiet is not limited by medium, but rather fueled by a desire to simply be a place for stories around the theme. We seek to draw on theater, performance, film, music, dance, words, and presentations to foster venues and methods for discussion. For quiet, intentional, meaningful, quality art is all part of story.
You also produce "quiet Speaks" -- what is this event?
Roxy: quiet Speaks features some of the works published in quiet Shorts (quarterly arts journal) as well as work that doesn’t necessarily fit within a journal. Informed by the season theme, quiet Speaks was created out of the desire to leave room within each season for stories we have yet to hear. Yes, we have a set season, but it is not so ridged that we can’t have a night of new stories.
So how does quiet Speaks work?
Roxy: quiet Speaks presents artist’s work in a talk-show format. It is a place where an author reads a short story, a poet shares a sonnet, a musician shares a song, a playwright shares a scene, a painter shares a piece, a photographer shares a photo and the list goes on and on. The artist then has the opportunity to talk about their piece with the audience. The forth wall doesn’t exist in this venue as it is a place for discussion and community. Our social service partners are also invited to participate through interviews and panel discussion. Again, art and audience collide.
quiet's production of Taming of the Shrew opens Feb. 11. The company's next quiet Speaks will be held on March 5. To learn more about these productions and other quiet events, check the quiet website.
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