Imagine watching your favorite television show on mute, or tuning into a foreign language channel for a soap opera. Would you be able to follow the along?
The discipline of storytelling and art fuse at the crossroads of theatre without words for QuestFest.
Running through Jan. 27, Quest Productions presents the third run of the Baltimore based theater festival that brings together local actors, international talent, and theater students for a two-week engagement.
Three venues in the Baltimore area including Baltimore's Theatre Project, Creative Alliance at The Patterson, and Towson University, as well as Montgomery County's Round House Theatre, are housing multiple performances ranging from tragedy to comedy and everywhere in between, all told through the art of visual theatre.
"It's theater that breaks down the use of a spoken language. Everything is told through a visual context. Many of the artists are deaf and Quest has worked with deaf artists for many years," Jay Herzog, chair of the theater department at Towson University, said.
"So it did start off with the idea that you could bring the deaf and hearing audiences and performers together…so is it theater for everyone? Absolutely."
Of the venues listed, Towson is showcasing the most performances, by far. Of the 50 shows the festival is bringing to Baltimore, the Ruth Marder Theatre at the Center of the Arts is hosting 35. Seventeen theater companies, some local, others from as far as Hong Kong, make up the two-week program.
Paul Harrelson, producer of Quest Productions, describes what he believes to be visual theater, the cornerstone of QuestFest.
"There is a quote from, I think it's the School of Physical Theatre in the UK and it's that physical theater exists at the intersections of all the disciplines. And I think that's evident in our schedule. It includes mime, that's more traditionally thought of as movement based theater, but it's also dance. We've had aerial work, and it's also contemporary clowning," Harrelson said.
Turnouts for the series have ranged from lackluster audiences, due to inclement weather to sold out performances, according to Harrelson.
"Here at Towson we're producing 11 shows, 11 completely different pieces. We're looking for people, and we welcome questions. Some people are looking for something for the kids; there's something for everybody," Herzog said.
Along with the performance schedule, which caters to all levels of a wide audience, QuestFest is an opportunity for the actors as well as those from around the community interested in acting to partake in workshops, taught by one another.
"Part of the excitement of what we're doing here is that the undergraduates, graduates, the guests who paid to take workshops and the workshop artists themselves are all in the room together," Herzog said.
For more information about QuestFest, visit http://www.questfest.org/index.htm.
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