The Quill

From Changeling Venue

Not far from the burgeoning and gentrified downtown core of Bellevue, that pretentious cross-lake suburb that aspires always to best Seattle at its own game, sits a nondescript row of brick shop fronts inhabited mostly by small specialty stores that cannot afford the higher rents closer to the municipal core. A dusty used bookstore stands cheek and jowl with a fishing tackle shop, an imported tile store, and an antique shop. And anchoring the end of the block is a decayed storefront that boasts no name; instead a hand-painted metal placard bolted to the dingy bricks near the door displays the image of an old-fashioned quill pen dipped into a bottle of ink. Those who know something of Seattle's underground and fringe theatre scene know it universally as "the Quill."

The Stage is Set
Theatres are strange and wondrous places. Some people attend plays purely for entertainment; others are pretenders to a refinement they do not truly possess, but wish to mimic. Still others patronize productions to see and be seen. And a few—very few—understand on a more visceral level what the theatre truly is: the door to another world. This theatre has its mortal devotees, however few and eccentric they may be, and they come to experience a kind of theatricality that is unusual at best, terrifying at worst. One never knows what the Quill will be showing on a given night, as the playbill is unadvertised. Most leave uncertain of what it is precisely that they have just seen, but they know it made them react on a visceral level uncommon in today's world of increasingly shallow entertainments.

Waiting in the Wings
The Quill is a small theatre, only a hundred seats or so, constructed in the 1960s as an arts annex to a now-demolished Boys & Girl's Club that once occupied the vacant lot across the street. The City Council kept the theatre because it was incorporated into the block of storefronts, but had trouble renting it consistently. The last tenants were a cadre of local garage bands in the early 1990s who used it as practice space and hoped to emulate Nirvana's fame; they did not succeed. Marlowe rented and renovated it in 1995, and has operated it ever since.

Behind the Curtain
The Quill is owned and operated by Marlowe, a Fairest Muse and member of the Freehold of the Seven Hills. There are other Lost among the theatre company, mostly engaged in crafting props, building sets, selling tickets or the like. The proprietor offers employment and a place of belonging to those who need or wish it, provided they can perform some needed or pleasing task, and a few Changelings who are newly emerged from the Hedge and need employment have spent some time here.

Dramatis Personae
Changelings known to work at or contribute in some fashion to the Quill's productions:

Padma
Jamilah Rose (Set-craft, Props, Special Effects)
Coal (Security)
Mira Blade (Props and stage-fight coaching)
Aislynn (Lighting effects)

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