“We try to make our parents simultaneously proud and slightly uncomfortable. Sixteenth Night will be no exception.”
Responder: Daniel Hilton, Artistic Associate
Name of Company: Zero Circle Theatre Company
Name of Show: Sixteenth Night
1. Why should anybody see your show?
Emotional acrobatics! We pride ourselves on making work that has a hundred percent of our heart and soul in it, and Sixteenth Night gives us an opportunity to push ourselves further (and into weirder places) in pursuit of that open-hearted free-fall.
2. Why Atlanta?
It’s our home. We love the city’s heartbeat, its diversity, its music, its culture. We’ve all made a life for ourselves in the Atlanta theatre community over the last couple of years, and we love contributing to the city’s artistic landscape.
3. What inspired you to create this?
We have always loved Twelfth Night . The way it mixes humor and pathos, or deep absurdity and deep love, makes it special–maybe because in the world today we’re all so skeptical and ironic and yet yearn for great sentiment at the same time. So this is an homage to what that play has given us over the years.
4. What’s your process for creating and rehearsing something like this?
We take nothing for granted. We treat the text and the world of the play as a sandbox where we can sit and play and find what interests us. There’s a fair amount of trial and error but we strive to hear, support, and develop each creative idea, no matter who or where it comes from.
5. What have you learned from working on your show so far?
One of the things that makes Shakespeare so much fun for actors and directors is that the text is open, right? It’s open to being played in (sometimes radically) different ways. It’s also open for the audience to interpret in (sometimes radically) different ways. With this play, we are learning ways through which we can try to get close to that openness.
6. Tyler Perry, Jane Fonda, Killer Mike and Donald Glover roll up at your show. There is one ticket left. Who gets it?
We are not often unanimous in agreement at Zero Circle but this was an exception: Mr. Glover, get at us.
7. Atlanta’s foodie scene is really on point these days. What does your show taste like? (Bonus points if you can name-check an ATL restaurant.)
You know how when it’s 2 AM and you realize you need to go home but you also realize you’re not quite done and you need a grilled cheese from Majestic Diner, right after you finish this last drink (I swear this one is the last)? Yeah.
[Above: Oh hell yes]
8. Fringes are the place to really push the boundaries so we gotta ask: would you want your parents in the front row or would you tell them, “Maybe skip this one, guys…”?
We try to make our parents simultaneously proud and slightly uncomfortable. Sixteenth Night will be no exception.
9. Will your show save mankind?
Sixteenth Night is about love, desire, loss, hope, and group therapy. So…possibly.
10. Oh boy! After your first show a genie pops out of a bottle and offers you a choice – world peace or your show enjoying a ten-year run on Broadway. What shall it be?
Ten years is a long time, and I’ve got a thing next week, so world peace will have to do.
11. Describe your show in three words.
Longing. Hope. Macaroni.
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