INTERVIEW: ‘Mindplay’ asks audiences to question that voice in their head
Photo: Vinny DePonto, left, works with an audience member, right, in Mindplay at the Geffen Playhouse. Photo courtesy of Jeff Lorch / Provided by press agent with permission.
Vinny DePonto lists three different professional titles on his website: mind reader, theatre-maker and visual artist. And now he’s putting his passions together in Los Angeles for an acclaimed world premiere called Mindplay, which is enjoying an extended run through Jan. 8 at the Geffen Playhouse. The audience members’ individual thoughts are showcased throughout the 80-minute performance, and DePonto questions whether that inner voice in their mind should be trusted or second guessed.
“After my off-Broadway run of Charltan in 2014, my co-collaborators — Andrew Neisler, my director, Josh Koenigsberg, my co-writer — got together, and I started pitching them on some ideas of where to go next and what themes to explore,” DePonto said in a recent phone interview. “We’ve really been tinkering with it since then, and then [producer] Eva Price joined in on the project. And she helped shape the piece as well, and together we just built a language and kept exploring. That’s the origin story of it.”
Price was able to connect DePonto with the world-famous Geffen Playhouse, which has built an impressive history of producing shows of magic and illusion. The theater also kept the candle burning during the pandemic and presented many theatrical offerings via Zoom (so did DePonto with his show Mental Amusements), and now with in-person theater returning to the Geffen, Mindplay is able to work its magic in a live setting.
“We had been workshopping the show around, doing it at various festivals,” DePonto said. “We had done it at American Conservatory Theater and some other places around, beginning versions of it, and eventually Eva called me. And she was like, ‘How do you feel about the Geffen?’ That’s an amazing place. I would love to be there. She was like, ‘We’re putting it up there.’ I was like, ‘That’s amazing,’ so that’s how it all happened. They have been absolutely lovely. It seems like they have had a bunch of magic shows, and this is their first mentalism show.”
Mentalism is an art form that many people, even those who purchase tickets to Mindplay, don’t exactly understand. To put it plainly, a mentalist is able to “read minds.” To pull this unbelievable feat off, DePonto utilizes psychological tricks, visual art and immersive storytelling.
“Audiences are loving it,” he said. “Thankfully the nice thing about L.A. is there’s mostly amazing weather out here, so we all get to hang out and chat afterward. And everyone has had some positive experiences, and they’ve also had incredible stories to share afterward. I think by the nature of this piece, I try to build a really strong connection with the audience, and the audience with each other, and I think that’s really lovely to have this little social event after the show as well.”
Because so many people don’t quite understand what Mindplay will be about when they enter the theater, DePonto takes time during each show to set expectations. For the next 80 minutes, he’ll be exploring the thought process, and he wants everyone to take a deep breath and bring the nervousness factor down a few notches.
“The lovely thing about mentalism is that there’s still a lot of mystery around the nomenclature of it, so immediately when you hear mentalist, you don’t immediately think of a magician,” he said. “You don’t think of all the stereotypes that go along with a magician. You hear something a little bit more mysterious, a little bit more mystical, and I try to set up that definition of what a mentalist is within the first few minutes of the show so that people both feel confident in knowing what they’re going to expect, but also feel like perhaps they can put their guard down a little bit. I make sure everyone knows that I’m not out to embarrass them or reveal their deepest, darkest secrets all for applause and accolades. We’re here to connect, and we’re here to share. So that’s really an important thing for me, not using the audience as props.”
DePonto’s shows, which have been experienced by many audiences around the country, are not solely about “serious” mentalism or illusion. He works in some levity and whimsy in order for people to walk away having had an enjoyable night at the theater. He has brought this theatrical thesis to his engagements at Ars Nova, American Repertory Theater and The Orchard Project. He’s also consulted on a variety of projects, everything from Broadway’s Angels in America to shows on the Discovery Channel.
“For me, it’s always been about incorporating some levity and some whimsy into the show so it doesn’t all feel very serious,” said DePonto, who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Charlatan. “This is one of my more serious shows just because it deals with some things about control and anxiety and memory that are personal to me, but I try to surround it with a levity that makes people feel comfortable. There are always going to be people in the theater who are going to be kind of closed off, trying to sit in the back and hiding from participating, and I totally understand that. And I always make sure I ask for consent or make sure that people have the agency to come up or not come up.”
Mindplay is in many ways a culmination of a lifelong journey into the heart of magic, illusion and mentalism. His love for this unique field began when DePonto was a child, and he carries that inspiration with him every single day.
“When I was a kid, all the magicians at the time that were on TV were always really inspiring, and I wanted to be a magician,” he said. “It just felt like my natural state when I was a kid when I realized I could be creative with it and I can also make a living from it. It’s something that I never really strayed away from. It’s been really hard to figure out how to make a career out of this, but I’ve stuck to it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Mindplay, starring Vinny DePonto, continues through Jan. 8 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Click here for more information and tickets.
