We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Quinn Xavier. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Quinn Xavier below.
Quinn Xavier, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.
I’m very lucky to say that I work for the best boss I’ve ever had and have for the last three years: Luna Searles. Luna deftly balances being a creative and a corporate professional. By day, she’s a Training & Quality Manager, using her empathy, passion for people, and adaptability to innovate learning and development; by night, she’s an incredible singer-songwriter leveraging those same skills to make music that is just out of this world. When I started working for her, there was a part of me that worried about being able manage by corporate and creative lives. Luna quickly reminded me that both of these roles feed each other — my work on her team enables me to make my art and allow it to impact my community and my art feeds the innovation I bring to her team. She has made sure that I have always been able to chase my dreams in theatre and I can honestly say I would not be where I am today without her. Thank you, Luna, for always pushing me to embrace myself as an artist!
Quinn Xavier, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a playwright, director, and dramaturg based in Atlanta out to make magic and shine a light on stories that lie in the intersections of our identities. I’m most drawn to magical realism: theatre that blends a the mundane world with fantastical elements to blur reality and allow myself, my fellow artists, and the audience to explore deeper truth about the world as we know it. Sometimes that magic is small and intimate, sometimes it is bombastic and larger-than-life; in either case (or any inbetween), I use it to hold a mirror up to real-world issues and challenge perceptions.
I started off as a playwright in 2014 when I attended Clemson University and dedicated myself to catching the spark that allowed the likes of Tennesse Williams, Sarah Ruhl, Lauren Gunderson, and Maria Irene Fornes to find a place in the American Theatrical canon. What I quickly learned through my time at Clemson, and later at the National Theater Institute, is that you have to bring all of your interests to your work and you also have to wear every hat that feels good to you. When I moved to Atlanta in 2018, this was further solidified when I joined Working Title Playwrights, Atlanta’s premier New Play Development Incubator. I started working as a director and dramaturg, applying what I had learned about writing–getting to the truth of the play and the playwright’s intent–to my work. Every project I aim to serve the play and the playwright, whether they’re in the room or not, and I do my very best to uplift every artist that joins me for the journey. Because theatre doesn’t happen alone. Not in 2026. Long gone are the days of a singular master artist moving the pieces of production around the stage like they’re playing chess and trying to outsmart or outwit some unknowable opponent.
What I do as a playwright, director, and dramaturg aims to challenge that antiquated idea and create space for the other artists in the room (who are all, definitely, smarter than me) to help me find the kernel of truth. There’s nothing quite like being the lead artist on a gig and being able to share that responsibility with the collective–I believe today that’s where the magic happens. I’m most proud in the room when I can see the way people light up about being able to share their thoughts and have them truly shape the final product.
If you are an actor, producer, director, patron, etc. looking for someone to help you create a theatrical experience that does any of the above, get in touch with me. I’m eager to create something beautiful and magical with you!
Have you ever had to pivot?
A few years after I joined Working Title Playwrights, they ended up hiring me as part-time staff. It was part of their expansion to better support playwrights in Atlanta and beyond as we started to come out of the Covid-19 lockdown. I was thrilled to join the ranks of some of the fiercest new play artists who made that community and the opportunities they create possible for over 80 playwrights. By 2024, however, things had shifted. Working Title was and still is one of the strongest and most welcoming communities I know, but my career as an artist and the transitions in my day jobs were taking me in two different directions. I ended up trusting my gut and made the decision to step down from my position on staff. It can be really hard to let a chapter of your life come to a close, but I was very grateful to navigate that change with Amber Bradshaw, the Managing Artistic Director of WTP. Amber was incredibly supportive throughout the process of stepping down and has been a true friend and champion of my work. She continues to throw opportunities my way and I have continued to uplift and support Working Title Playwrights in the ways that I’m able. I think it’s important with any big change to find those trusted allies, like Amber, who have your back no matter what. Having those people in your corner can make everything feel a little less scary.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Invest in your local creatives and artists. Take a risk on them. Even if they fail, even if you feel like you’ve lost your investment. Because it makes the world of difference to them and your support allows us all to learn something and better today than we were yesterday. The large streaming services and big name artists getting hired everywhere have the ability do great work, no shade to them, but they are playing a much different game and won’t always be creating work that speaks to you. I can promise you that there is a local artist in your community creating something wonderful that will feel like it was made specifically for you. They deserve your love, attention, and support (financial or otherwise) too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://newplayexchange.org/users/12995/quinn-xavier-hernandez
- Instagram: quinnxaviertheatremaker
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quinnxaviertheatremaker/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quinn-xavier-hernandez-963074249
Image Credits
Casey Gardner Ford
Working Title Playwrights