ABOUT COMBINED ARTFORM

Founded in 1998, C.A.F.E. is on a mission to develop and combine all art forms to pioneer the “arts of the future,” as well as be an active and supporting member of the San Francisco – and now Los Angeles – performance production scene.

Created by Producing Artistic Director Matthew Quinn, and joined by Steve Kahn in 1999, C.A.F.E. has collaborated with actors, singers, filmmakers, sketch comedy groups, musicians, improvisers, and fine artists in more than 100 shows, including Santaland Diaries, Eavesdropper (SF), Monday(SF) Thursday(LA) Night Improv Jam, PAPA (at the Eureka w/Open Fist), Tilted Frame Improv and the SF Solo Festival.

Matthew Quinn’s interest in theater goes back to high school, as does his interest in total or “combined art”, a concept inspired by Richard Wagner’s idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, in which music, text, costume, and more would combine into a seamless experience for the audience. Always on the cutting edge of video and audio technologies, Quinn has been an avid experimenter with the latest gadgetry, and has attracted collaborators who share this interest. He formalized this search for the new by forming Combined Art Form Entertainment (CAFE) in 1998 as a vehicle to produce the art of the future.

After several years of producing theater at The Next Stage as a project of Theater Residencies, Inc. (TRI), Quinn and business partner/music director Steve Kahn decided to start their own production company and seek their own space as a home for the types of multi-media theater and arts they were interested in. They found two former office spaces in a seven-story office building on Mission between Fifth and Sixth and turned them into black-boxes. Construction and permit compliance took a full eight months, and Off-Market Theaters were ready to open their doors to the public in March 2004. True to the vision of Quinn and Kahn, the spaces are both “wired for sound”—and video and Internet as well.  Since opening they have welcomed over 50 different artists and groups, including actors, singers, film makers, sketch groups, bands and improv ensembles.

Off-Market has played host to 'nomadic' theater companies, sketch and improv groups, spoken-word artists, and musicians. Several of these projects have fused to create new alloys. This mixture is the mission of Combined Art fulfilled--bringing many arts together.

Beginning in June of 2007, C.A.F.E. has expanded to include a new venue on theatre row in Hollywood, Theatre Asylum. Combined, they allow for a unique merger of two creative cities, allowing both to influence each other in their development and production of entertainment.