The starting point for FervorQuest's history can be placed at the year 1993.
Yerffej R. Nilhgual: Percussionist, mountain pillager, and unofficial mascot of the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, finds his attention placed upon the theatre.
He is compelled to perform "The Drummer," by Athol Fugard. "The Drummer" is a short one-man improvisation piece with no dialogue.
A tramp roots through some rubbish, finds a drumstick, then a second. He can make rhythm with the sticks, and then with an upturned tin can he has all he needs to rise above the sounds of the city. He walks toward the city with his drumsticks ready.
Fugard explains the piece was based on a tramp he saw in New York who was "very joyous...defiantly so!....and seemed to have a sense of himself as being extravagantly free."
The inspiration derived from this theatrically- integrated percussion led to Yerffej becoming an extension of the the drummer character in his real life.
Yerffej marched through the streets of downtown USA, late night, with a snare drum, cans of soup and sterno, and a box of crackers. His mission was to befriend the downtrodden, to use the vehicle of the drum to inspire those for whom life had become a pointless redundancy.
The ultimate goal was to create a full-length percussive show, performed by the formerly homeless, and to take it to the international theatre festival in Avignon, France.
This endevour was persued with great persistance. Homeless people were brought into the fold. Inspiration and positive direction did occur. Percussion rehearsals took place.
However, for a number of reasons, primarily Yerffej's lack of resources, the project did not manifest itself as planned. Such is life!
It is 1996, and FervorQuest was re-realized as a found-instrument/theatrical performance company, creating a healthy spectacle of itself in the greater Tampa Bay area.
The creative process led to the conception of the worlds first Percussive Opera: The Epic of Yerffej.
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