Photos by Rich Clark
Ceremony
(2013) Director and Dramaturg
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At 35 years of age, Michael Kass lost himself. And instead of looking for answers at the bottom of a glass or from the comfort of a therapist’s couch, he quits his job, hops a flight to Peru, and searches for a shaman who can prepare a renowned tea that promises to make him see his worst fears. Awesome! How far will one man go to find himself? And will he be able to find his way back?
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This hilarious and spellbinding true tale of love, fear, and ayahuasca is performed on a bare stage by Kass with the aid of eight colorful buckets and a vibrant and immersive sound design, taking audiences from downtown Los Angeles to the Sacred Valley in Peru and back. At turns self-deprecatingly funny and unsparingly frank, Kass’s intensely personal story grapples with universal themes of isolation, self-doubt, and coming of age in the context of a shamanic medicine ceremony.
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Presentations
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Debuted June 2013; has been performed more than 100 times at venues across the United States!
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Chicago Fringe Festival
August 30-September 1, 2014
San Francisco Fringe Festival
September 9-18, 2014
Los Angeles’ Bootleg Theater
September 26-28, 2014
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Awards
Winner, Best of Fringe
San Francisco Fringe Festival, 2014
Winner, Outstanding Solo Show
San Diego International Fringe Festival, 2014
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Winner, Duende Distinction for Playwriting
Winner, Best of Fringe Extension
Nominee, Best Solo Show
Hollywood Fringe Festival, 2013
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Press
"GO! ... Leads you on a voyage of self-discovery. There's nothing more difficult than conveying a transcendental experience, but Kass approaches it with a feisty, bumptious charm and considerable narrative skill … deftly shaped by director Diana Wyenn" —LA Weekly, Pick of the Week
"Personal, funny and spellbinding." —San Diego Reader, Critic's Pick
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"Director Diana Wyenn, an active young veteran of the L.A. theater scene, does a masterful job pacing and visually structuring Kass's tale with only a stack of multi-colored buckets as props and a few perfectly-timed sound and light cues ... A worthy lineal descendant of Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia, this Ceremony is an occasion to savor and certainly not to miss." —LAist
"Wyenn's knack for less-is-more enhances Ceremony's accessibility … It's likely more than a couple left the theater with a heightened sense of oneness." —theatretimes.org
"Directed by Diana Wyenn, Ceremony is a funny, gratifying, and incredibly genuine look into the sense of belonging, community, and purpose that we seek throughout our lives." —Neon Tommy
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Credits
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Michael Kass, writer and performer
Diana Wyenn, director and dramaturg
Martin Carillo, sound designer
Tony Shayne, lighting designer
Diana Wyenn, production designer
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Additional Links​
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