It all began on a dark wintry night in the late 1990s, at a neighborhood bar near Chicago's Off-Loop Theater district:
"What am I doing wrong?" complained the theater critic, "I review plays for three newspapers! I've written dozens of stage combat stories, but I still have to arm-wrestle editors to get them published."
"Audiences don't understand stage combat," declared the newscaster, "Real—or real-looking—violence can be exciting to watch, but staged violence spoils the fantasy."
"What we need is a publication devoted wholly to theatrical violence" proposed the bookstore owner, "a magazine, or a quarterly chapbook, with reviews highlighting fights in plays, interviews with fight choreographers and articles about fight techniques—all presented in language making safe violence exciting, too. It's all right to share the backstage secrets."
"A fight newsletter could easily be assembled on a computer, you know," suggested the English professor, "We could print it ourselves and distribute it by mail, with ordinary postage stamps."
Moulinet: An Action Quarterly debuted in February 2000. For the next thirteen years, this independent publication continued to serve as a forum for members of the fight profession and an advocate for stage combat.
From storefronts and Shakespeare Festivals, to the training workshops of the Society of American Fight Directors, to cowboy-shooting tournaments and Renaissance Faire jousts, writers from every region of the United States apply their wordplay skills to showcase the artistry of swordplay. Moulinet has received mentions in doctoral dissertations and shout-outs at international Awards ceremonies, and in 2010, expanded its readership by launching its online edition, ActionQuarterly.com before succumbing in 2013 to economic pressures.
"What am I doing wrong?" complained the theater critic, "I review plays for three newspapers! I've written dozens of stage combat stories, but I still have to arm-wrestle editors to get them published."
"Audiences don't understand stage combat," declared the newscaster, "Real—or real-looking—violence can be exciting to watch, but staged violence spoils the fantasy."
"What we need is a publication devoted wholly to theatrical violence" proposed the bookstore owner, "a magazine, or a quarterly chapbook, with reviews highlighting fights in plays, interviews with fight choreographers and articles about fight techniques—all presented in language making safe violence exciting, too. It's all right to share the backstage secrets."
"A fight newsletter could easily be assembled on a computer, you know," suggested the English professor, "We could print it ourselves and distribute it by mail, with ordinary postage stamps."
Moulinet: An Action Quarterly debuted in February 2000. For the next thirteen years, this independent publication continued to serve as a forum for members of the fight profession and an advocate for stage combat.
From storefronts and Shakespeare Festivals, to the training workshops of the Society of American Fight Directors, to cowboy-shooting tournaments and Renaissance Faire jousts, writers from every region of the United States apply their wordplay skills to showcase the artistry of swordplay. Moulinet has received mentions in doctoral dissertations and shout-outs at international Awards ceremonies, and in 2010, expanded its readership by launching its online edition, ActionQuarterly.com before succumbing in 2013 to economic pressures.
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