It was that time of year again! PantheaCon 2010 was held at the Doubletree in San Jose February 12-15th! Pantheacon is one of if not the largest Pagan Convention in the United States–4 days packed full of rituals, workshops, lectures, concerts, parties, vendors, hospitality suites, and more! Here’s a quick rundown of what The Circle of Dionysos did at this year’s PCon:
Our big event for PCon this year was the return of Yes They Are! Meeting and Greeting the Queerest of the Gods. Our production in 2009 was a huge success with lots of people calling it their favorite event of Con. Not ones to rest on our laurels however, we brought in a whole new cadre of Deities with new messages for this year! We were again standing room only, and even though we had to fight to be heard against the rock concert playing next door, my sense was that our audience poured all of their power into hearing what we had to say. Certainly as a performer I could see and hear the audience’s emotional investment in the tears on faces during certain scenes and the laughter during the more lighthearted moments. I’m super proud of our cast and crew of ritualists for stepping up and I’m looking forward to next year and working with the new people who came to us after the ritual and expressed interest in bringing their Deities in!
Our fiscal sponsors The Pagan Alliance hosted a hospitality suite as usual this year, so we participated in their events as well. We were official co-hosts for Pizzanalia!, the Saturday Evening pizza party from 5:30-7:00PM, and while we weren’t there in any official capacity, you can bet we were around for the Queer Meet and Greet Cocktail Party Friday Night from 8:00 to 9:00 PM.
Our entire board of directors and many other members of the Yes They Are! cast also performed in this year’s Oracles from the Living Tarot on Sunday Night at 7PM. This made for an intense switchover between productions and led to some very creative connecting of the rituals (including The Fool from OLT being transformed onstage into Dionysos for YTA). All and all a very magical night of ritual theater–so magical that it claimed my voice for the rest of the night and the next day!
We had an amazing time and are already planning for next year!
