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From Jan. 9 to 22, the Center for the Arts was the home for Questfest, an experience in visual theater. The company behind Questfest is the Lanham, MD-based company Quest. “We share a passion for visual theater for people with or without disability,” Tim McCarty, the founder and executive director of Quest, said. Since its inception in 1986 the group has made quite a name for itself, traveling all over the world to “support theater that emanates from a visual point,” McCarty said. The organization has planned events for Galludet University and touring companies have visited countries as far as South Africa and Australia. With 40 productions and 11 companies, Quest didn’t have much trouble rounding up talent. “We have a pretty good handle because the first [Questfest] was in Edinborough, Scotland,” McCarty said. This time around Juanita Rockwell, a professor in the MFA program at Towson University, worked on getting Questfest a home in Towson. After the spot was secured, Questfest expanded to include community arts center Creative Alliance and local theater Theatre Project. “Theatre Project had seen us at Artscape a couple of years ago and had wanted to get involved with us,” McCarty said. The eleven shows ranged in subject from Edgar Allen Poe to relationships. “Visual theater blurs the lines between dance, theater, mime and gesture,” McCarty said. Many of the shows made their Maryland debut, while two had world premieres. “Lost and Clown’d” and “Rivers” both use the body to convey their stories, one about three lost circus performers and the other about Indian poet Amir Khusrau. Many of the performers come from around the world. “I thought it was so amazing there were deaf performers from Singapore coming to America to perform a show about Edgar Allen Poe,” McCarty said. McCarty was referring to Ramesh Meyyappan’s “The Tell Tale Heart and the Masque of the Red Death.” “These are all wonderful shows,” McCarty said. “People would ask me if I had a favorite and I couldn’t answer them, cause they are all great shows.” McCarty, who said he wanted people to get joy out of this event, was very pleased to see smiles in the audience. “My lasting image is seeing people smiling in eight different schools, and I saw people having fun,” he said. “It was a great celebration, there is a power in theater to bring people together.” The audience wasn’t alone in their praise. The cast and crew “had weekly reflections, there were a lot of joyful tears,” McCarty said. “Many artists felt they were validated and they belonged here, they felt validated.” Though the festival has ended, Quest has already begun planning their next Questfest. “We are going to Salt Lake City for the Deaflympics,” McCarty said. They will be performing the opening and closing ceremonies along with Questfest.
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