We Players: Mountain Goddess Ceremony at WHG
Step into the Garden for an immersive ceremony of release, renewal, and connection to past, present, and future.
Conceived and directed by Ava Roy and created and performed by Ling Ling Lee, Mountain Goddess invites participants into a sensory journey through Western Hills Garden. Guided by the Mountain Goddess and her spirited guardians, Ox Head and Horse Face, guests will move through meditation, exploration, ritual, and play—drawing on ancestry, memory, the elements, and the landscape itself.
The experience culminates in a seasonal, culturally relevant meal prepared by acclaimed Sonoma County Chef Sean Quan, featuring Beijing Zhajiangmian-style noodle bar with an array of different vegetables, pickle, and herb garnishes. Wine, beer, non-alcoholic drinks, and cheerful company will also be provided.
Presented by We Players in partnership with Western Hills Garden.
Conceived and Directed by Ava Roy
Created and Performed by Ling Ling Lee
Costumes by Brooke Jennings
Sliding-scale tickets: $100-200 via We Players website. Click below to register.
Artist Bios:
Ava Roy: Ava is the Founding Artistic Director of We Players, the Bay Area site-integrated theater company she founded in 2000. For more than two decades, she has created immersive performances that bring audiences into new relationships with landscape, history, and place, including collaborations with the National Park Service, California State Parks, and San Francisco Recreation and Parks. Roy is a graduate of Stanford University, where she designed her own major, Ritual and Performance in Aesthetic Education.
Ling Ling Lee: Ling Ling is a San Francisco-born multidisciplinary artist with a background in Chinese theater and dance. A graduate of San Francisco School of the Arts and Shanghai Theatre Academy, Lee works across theater, dance, storytelling, and fire performance. Her collaborators include We Players, Meow Wolf, Disney, Kaimera Wanderbeasts, and the European Juggling Convention. With We Players, Lee has performed as Ox Head/Horse Face in Psychopomp and appeared in Macbeth at Fort Point and Odyssea.
Brooke Jennings: Brooke is an award-winning costume designer working in the Bay Area and beyond and a graduate of UC Santa Cruz’s Theater Arts master’s program. Her credits include work with San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, San Jose Stage, Crowded Fire Theater Company, and We Players. Jennings began designing for We Players in 2015 with Ondine at Sutro, for which she received a Theater Bay Area Award for Outstanding Costume Design, and has since become the company’s resident costume designer and a longtime creative collaborator.
