Dezart Performs Presents Mental Amusements January 13 – 24, 2021
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Dezart Performs Presents Mental Amusements January 13 – 24, 2021
An online, live-streaming virtual journey through the mind with award-winning Mentalist Vinny DePonto
17 December 2020 – Palm Springs, CA: Dezart Performs wants to know what you’re thinking – and with Mental Amusements performed by internationally acclaimed Vinny DePonto, they will! Known to legions of fans from his Off-Broadway, pre-COVID performances, DePonto presents this online, live-streaming experience January 13 – 24, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm (PST) and Sundays at 4pm (PST). At-home viewers have the option to participate interactively in the show when they purchase a Front Row Experience ticket. Or, they can sit back, relax and watch the performance with a General Viewing Experience ticket.
“Vinny’s’ virtual interactive show has been wowing people all over the world for the last few months,” said Dezart Performs Founding Artistic Director Michael Shaw. “As soon as I saw it, I thought this was a unique and amazing journey that I wanted to share with our audience.”
Designed exclusively for the virtual stage as an interactive live-streamed event, Mental Amusements uses a combination of psychological tricks, illusion, visual art, and immersive storytelling to astonish audiences with DePonto’s mind-boggling skills.
“My goal is to create an experience that brings people together much like a carnival draws folks from all around to rediscover wondrous amusements together,” says DePonto. “This show has been an unexpected joy to perform. I’ve connected with folks from all around the world and rather than their faces getting lost in a dark theater, I have been able to look them each in the eyes, albeit via a screen, and say thank you for being here. It’s a very personal experience which is what I love so much about this craft. Hope you’ll join me for a night out in the carnival of our minds.”
DePonto’s most recent Off-Broadway stage show Charlatan was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Production. In addition to his live performances, his consulting work has been featured in hit television shows on The Discovery Channel, NBC, and Netflix, in the most recent Broadway production of Angels in America, and at Lincoln Center in Ghost Light, by the award-winning theater group Third Rail Projects, of which he is a member.
Of Mental Amusements, the New York Timessays”Mr. DePonto’s craftsmanship consistently impresses” while the New Yorker raves that “this online production has an endearing lo-fi charm. DePonto pulls off some real whoppers.”
The show runs approximately 60 minutes. Front Row Experience tickets, priced at $54 per household, put audiences right into the action, participating in the show and having their minds read. General Viewing Experience tickets, priced at $39 per household, allow viewers to watch, without being seen or heard. Tickets are available now at www.dezartperforms.org .
Dezart Performs, one of the Coachella Valley’s preeminent theatre companies, recognizes that the performing arts enrich the life and culture of a community, promote greater understanding and provoke insightful discussion. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company, its mission is to provide an artistic home for bold and cutting–edge plays, creating an atmosphere of artistic growth for actors, writers, and directors who uniquely contribute to the diverse theatrical environment in the Coachella Valley. For more information go online at www.dezartperforms.org, or call (760) 322-0179.