Rachel Kann

A TEDx UCLA poet,[1] Kann has released three spoken word albums and published four poetry collections, as well as a children's book, You Sparkle Inside.

[11] Kann attended the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and studied under Tod Goldberg and Rob Roberge; many of the short stories she wrote in their classes later appeared in her book 10 for Everything.

After her early undergrad years, she alternated between Los Angeles and New York, where she gained notice in both the theatre community and the poetry slam circuit.

[2] Kann's early stage roles included an evil stepsister in a 1992 PCPA Theatrefest production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella;[13] Anna in a 1999 production of Max Frisch's The Fire Bugs for Eclectic Company Theatre;[14] and appearing in Erik Patterson's award-nominated plays Yellow Flesh/Alabaster Rose (2003) and Red Light Green Light (2004) for the Theatre of NOTE.

[2] From 2001 to 2008, Kann hosted "collab:ORATION", a collaborative music and poetry open mic event, which began at the Knitting Factory before moving to the Temple Bar in Santa Monica; notable contributors over the years included Sage Francis, Saul Williams, Rachel McKibbens, Emily Wells, and Derrick C.

Kann performed in 2010 at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Los Angeles as part of the poetry showcase Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts, where she appeared alongside poet Michael C. Ford among others.

[1][22] In April 2014, Kann performed at the Pico Union Project's second annual Downtown Seder, a pre-Passover event organized by musician Craig Taubman; the event was held at the former Welsh Presbyterian Church building in the Pico-Union area and also featured performances by Danielle Agami's Ate9 dANCEcOMPANY troupe, IKAR musical director Cantor Hillel Tigay, and an unscripted appearance by actor and folk musician Theodore Bikel.

[24] In May, Kann returned to her hometown of San Luis Obispo for a pair of free shows, where she was accompanied by the a capella group Beautiful Chorus.

[25] In 2017, she performed at a Mardi Gras Grand Bal Masque at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles, hosted by comedian Al Madrigal, on a bill including actor Roger Guenveur Smith;[26] and at Ralph's Rock Diner in Worcester, Massachusetts, as part of the Dirty Gerund Poetry Series.

[5] Kann has published four poetry collections: Idolizer/Atrix (2000), 10 for Everything (2007), A Prayer On Behalf Of The Broken Heart (2017), and How to Bless the New Moon: The Priestess Paths Cycle and Other Poems for Queens (2019).

In 2013, Kann's short story "The Historian" was adapted into a play for the Santa Monica Repertory Theater's Wave Fest, directed by Jennifer Bloom and starring Joe Hernandez-Kolski.

[10][34] She has overseen programs including "New Moon Union", a monthly multimedia celebration of Rosh Chodesh, and "Realize Paradise: Shabbat Soul Journey", a weekly virtual Shabbat service that incorporates meditation, chanting, drumming, land acknowledgement, invocation of the shekhinah, and Hebrew prayers rewritten with feminine grammatical gender.

[34] Kann was featured as an expert on Hebrew Shamanism at the 2021 Jewish Psychedelic Summit, and completed an apprenticeship in medicine work in a Shipibo lineage.

[37] Later that year, her artwork was featured at the opening of Big Art Church, a performance venue in East Hollywood, alongside the work of artists including Amanda Sage and William Stout.

[10][9] In a 2016 Hevria article, Kann wrote about being raped while rescuing a friend from an abusive relationship in another country, saying she had rationalized the experience until discussing it with an ex-boyfriend a few years prior.