Daniel Quinn loves his life as a poet and theater producer despite the struggles involved. He sees theater as going beyond realism and convention to have an "epic vision". Quinn got degrees in literature and fine arts then spent three years analyzing plays, getting paid only $3 per play in his third year. He has produced many memorable plays over the years, including productions of Sacco and Vanzetti over 14 years. Quinn co-directed a controversial black Jesus passion play and has written two books, including a poetry collection. He finds similarities between writing poetry and theater in being both personal and reflective yet public.

1. IRISH POST, Madson, Wisconsin Feature interview.
WINTER/SPRING 2009 / VOL. 9 ISSUE 1
Poet/Producer Quinn Takes the Long View
By Megan Mueller
Daniel Quinn loves his life as a poet as well as his various roles in theater,
despite the struggles they entail. He points out that "it's a bumpy life. It's
very hard. It takes tremendous effort and determination to raise money and to
get things done well, it's a miracle. Hard to accomplish but amazing to look
back and see that it's happened in front of your own eyes."
As a child, Quinn avidly read the newspaper. It kept him connected to the
theater not only locally, but also in NYC. Quinn's first real experience with
the theater came in sixth grade when he took the stage for the first time as
part of the ensemble in Oliver.
He continued to work with theater through high school, where he first
encountered the work of Edward Bond, an English playwright who helped to abolish
censorship in England. Bond changed the way Quinn viewed theater. "When I was in
high school I was studying his work, and it was just a matter of him of him
having imagination beyond the conventional. An epic vision of drama. His work
was expansive."
His undergraduate years of college were spent at Ramapo College of New Jersey
where he got a degrees in Literature and Fine Arts. Quinn attended graduate
school at The American University in Washington D.C. In college, he spent three
years reading plays, providing a summary and analysis. He read 20 plays a month
and was unpaid for the first two years. The third year, he received only $3 a
play.
The work was "laborious and emotionally draining" as few plays were worth
producing. Part of the issue was that American writers didn't see a difference
between television and the stage. Quinn states that "we think that television is
now theater, and it's not. We've managed to diminish theater into a TV-like
situation where it is realistic and conventional. Theater is beyond that
dimension. We've reduced our technique and our vision."
He debuted as an actor at La MaMa Experimental Theatre, but despite his
enjoyment of being on stage, Quinn prefers to produce or direct plays. Producing
and directing allows him to "expose the public to work they wouldn't see
otherwise and broaden people's emotional and artistic perspectives."
One of his more memorable productions was Sacco and Vanzetti, which is based on
the case of two Italian immigrants who were known anarchists, who were charged
and possibly falsely convicted of murder, then put to death. Quinn produced it
five times over 14 years in a variety of venues, such as Philadelphia and New
York City. He is looking to revive it again in the next few years
Quinn also produced the U.S. premiere of Bond's play Stone, which is about
oppression and freedom. He was affiliated with the Irish Arts Center in New York
from 1985 through 1991, where he served as associate producer and director. He
worked with plays including Janet Noble's Away Alone, Graham Reid's Remembrance,
and Diary of a Madman, for which Tim McDonnell won the Obie Award for best
actor.
He co-directed the black Jesus Passion Play in Park Theatre in 1997 and 1998.
Quinn didn't cast a black man as Jesus to ruffle feathers or spark debate, he
did it because "He was the best person for the role. We didn't expect the
reaction it got." Mildly put, it was rancorous. But the play went on.
Quinn was a guest of AerLingus at the Dublin Theatre Festival in Ireland.Quinn's
great-grandfather was from Ireland and immigrated to the United States after the
Irish civil war, where he met his wife, Quinn's grandmother, in NYC. Quinn never

2. had contact with his relatives in Co, Clare, because his grandfather died before
he was born. His trip to Ireland was not an exciting return to his roots, rather
"it was very depressing. It was just emerging into the 20th century." The
festival was still enjoyable though seeing 12 plays in 10 days.
Quinn returned to Ireland a decade later and was shocked to see that it had
transformed into a bustling European country. It had "more money, more people,
more energy. It went from slow to being really fast." Though he hasn't been
there since, he often gets Irish plays in New York. They differ from American
productions in that "America is much bigger with more money and it's more
commercial. Ireland is reflective and literary."
Exits and Entrances: Producing Off-Broadway, Opera & Beyond: 1981-2006 was
Quinn's second book, which provides a broad overview of 25 years of his theater
experiences and productions. His first book was a collection of his poetry:
organized labor: collected poems. He feels that there is great similarity
between writing poetry and theater. "Poetry is very personal and reflective, but
also very public. Theater is, in a way, the same-to do important theater, it has
to be emotionally connected to you and your actors."
He began writing poetry in high school.Quinn tries to "give a sense of society
but also a sense of person." He does book signings and lectures, but prefers not
to read his own poetry.Instead, he hires actors to read his poetry for him, and
he allows them to choose whatever poems they would like to read.
His favorite poets are Sophocles, Pasolini and T.S. Eliot. When he gets writer's
block, he leaves his desk to go get coffee or tea to distract himself and find
focus. His black and white, 10-year-old pit bull mix, Sergio, is also good for
distraction, requesting walks at least twice a day. Does he ever wish he'd
decided to be something else, like a marine biologist or brain surgeon? "Every
day," he says, but continues on, "But I wouldn't actually change."