One of L.A.'s most personal theater experiences is disguised as a tarot reading

There’s a consciousness of quiescent enigma successful tarot. That’s wherefore during my speechmaking past week, it was much peculiar than disruptive erstwhile a dancer hopped connected a array to laic astatine a 90-degree space and pitchy her feet successful the air.

Despite said activity, the code was contemplative, and moments later, arsenic I was being asked to picture the colors and temper of a Ten of Swords card, I was tapped connected the shoulder. After a motion to follow, I was handed a lantern.

The mode I swayed the airy would present dictate the performer’s movements. We whitethorn not person been dancing, but it was close. Melancholic and intimate, the performer (Haylee Nichele) silently guided maine to go comfy successful my discomfort, to beryllium with the evening’s themes of longing, loss, disorder and impending grief.

Sam Alper’s Bill, foreground, and Haylee Nichele’s Constance successful Koryn Wicks’ “You Must Be Here for the Reading,” an immersive tarot show.

(Daniel Kleen)

“You Must Be Here for the Reading,” moving done June 20 astatine North Hollywood’s After Hours Theatre, is portion theatrical and creation performance, portion tarot speechmaking and portion cocktail hour. It’s besides personal, led by 2 actors who promote the attendees to unfastened up, to implicit poems and to mostly tune into their vulnerability.

The 60-minute show, partially scripted and partially improvised, comes from the caput of Koryn Wicks. Trained successful creation and choreography, Wicks’ time occupation is successful themed amusement portion her idiosyncratic projects research the immersive space. They’re theatrical works that experimentation with assemblage interaction. “You Must Be Here for the Reading” is nary different.

The setup: Collectively, our radical of 8 has arrived astatine a tarot reading, lone the famed scholar we are determination to enactment with, Constance, performed by Nichele connected the nighttime I saw, ne'er arrives for her assigned role. We cognize her fate, but her partner, Sam Alper’s Bill, who nervously attempts to transportation connected with the show successful her absence, does not.

From there, “You Must beryllium Here for the Reading” becomes a amusement dense connected assemblage participation. There are scripted, story-specific beats, but the cards pulled — and the tales they archer — is, of course, randomized.

Sam Alper arsenic Bill, an unsuspecting tarot paper scholar successful Koryn Wicks’ “You Must Be Here for the Reading.”

(Daniel Kleen)

“I knew that I wanted the assemblage to beryllium the superior drivers of the tarot reading,” Wicks says. “I knew that I wanted the big to not beryllium a tarot scholar and determination to beryllium immoderate benignant of lawsuit that made it truthful the assemblage would person to instrumentality the reins and work the tarot.”

In turn, “You Must Be Here for the Reading” works for some those who are novices to the abstraction arsenic good arsenic those who are much experienced. During the pre-show, guests tin research tarot books and uncover slips of insubstantial hidden successful them that punctual america to reply questions oregon implicit poems — the second volition fig into the performance. A worksheet fixed to america asks america to construe immoderate halfway tenets, arsenic good arsenic to participate the speechmaking with a question we would similar to explore.

The amusement past focuses connected however each attendee’s desires, concerns oregon lived experiences signifier the cognition of the reading.

“What’s drawn maine to tarot is the mode it’s built connected symbolism and the mode that symbolism is embedded successful the corporate unconscious,” Wicks says. “I deliberation it’s truly fascinating that we person this artifact that has this quality to springiness america penetration into a batch of shared experiences. When I’ve work antithetic books astir tarot, oregon had my cards work by antithetic people, determination is an openness to interpenetration.

“The duty I gave myself for this piece,” Wicks continues, “was to make an acquisition successful which you had a radical of radical coming unneurotic and going done the process of defining the symbolism and meaning of the cards successful existent time.”

And yet the amusement besides pulls from Wicks’ inheritance successful dance. While Constance ne'er shows for the reading, her beingness is inactive felt, often hovering oregon circling astir the array with movements designed to construe the code of the reading. She’s a ghostly presence, the gracefulness heightening the somber emotions of the night. Though she and Bill ne'er interact directly, overmuch of the creation seeks to research their unseen bond. At times, Constance whitethorn telephone connected assorted assemblage members to enactment arsenic a creation partner.

Koryn Wicks, creator of “You Must Be Here for the Reading,” an immersive tarot show successful which audiences are tasked with deciphering their ain cards portion a melancholic communicative unfolds astir them.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

“I truly judge that 1 of the astir beauteous things creation does for america is punctual america that we are not alone,” Wicks says.

Immersive creation allows for a consciousness of participation, which Wicks hopes volition summation one’s appreciation of dance.

“Dance is an embodied creation form,” Wicks says. “There is subject that shows that immoderate of the enjoyment from watching creation comes from imagining yourself moving. In North America, a batch of radical haven’t had an acquisition oregon acquisition with dance, particularly not performance dance. Then we inquire them to beryllium successful a acheronian auditorium successful a tiny seat and not determination to bask it. I recovered done my research, some applicable and academic, determination is thing to inviting audiences to enactment successful creation that allows them to deduce meaning from it.”

While determination isn’t capable clip successful the amusement for everyone to person a one-on-one acquisition with the dancer, watching an assemblage and formed subordinate effort to get successful sync with each different underlines the night’s themes of connecting. Ultimately, that’s the abstraction wherever the amusement resides. “You Must Be Here for the Reading” uses tarot arsenic a means to bring immoderate operation to our often disconnected lives.

“It stands successful contradiction to our existent humanities moment,” Wicks says of the show. “It’s precise anti-AI. It’s asking radical to beryllium with books and to find small seeds and not needfully prosecute solutions oregon puzzles. It’s asking america to connect, sometimes with strangers.”

I kept my question that I brought to the speechmaking secret, but I recovered the amusement provided a hopeful answer. Not due to the fact that the cards offered a solution. Instead, they provided a community.