BWW Preview: Desert Theatreworks Discusses Its 2016-17 Season

Desert Theatreworks (DTW), Palm Desert's 501(c)(3) community theatre, has received 64 nominations for the Desert Theatre League's 2016 Desert Star awards, the most of any company. Lance and Ron Phillips-Martinez, the spouses who serve as DTW's artistic director and executive director, respectively, sat down with Broadway World to discuss the company's nominations and its upcoming season.

Lance says that the 64 nominations show "our work is being validated." However, he modestly points out that DTW presents a "large variety" of shows, including comedies, dramas, musicals, revues, and readings, making the company eligible in numerous categories.

The Desert Theatre League divides nominees into professional and volunteer categories. Although some of the company's nominations are for roles performed by actors designated as professionals, the Phillips-Martinezes emphasize that DTW is a community theatre, and does not pay actors - its acting professionals are retired. On the other hand, as the company has grown financially and in stature, it has hired paid creative talent for assignments that Ron or Lance would previously have taken on themselves. One such individual, designer Bruce Weber, who joined the company during the past season, has been nominated for his mid-century modern set for OTHER DESERT CITIES, which Broadway World noted in its review "perfectly convey[s] the feel of living in Palm Springs."

Lance and Ron said that they consider DTW to be a teaching organization. As a result, Lance does not always cast the individual who has the best audition; instead he sometimes selects someone who is likely to grow into the role as Lance coaches him or her during rehearsals. In such cases, he relies on his husband (who, in addition to serving as the company's executive director, still steps in for various creative assignments) to opine whether Lance can "get [the actor] there." Lance mentioned one case where an actor had potential, but wasn't skilled enough that he and Ron thought the person could be ready by opening night. Eventually, Lance cast him in a role that both Phillips-Martinezes felt the individual would grow into during the rehearsal process. They apparently reached the right conclusion - the actor succeeded in the part.

Ron said that it is "up to us to provide an environment" conducive to teaching. They do this in part by mixing experienced actors with new performers. Lance said that the two groups learn from each other; the experienced actors teach the new ones about backstage etiquette and the young ones provide infectious enthusiasm. He added that everyone refers to the company as "the family," because they "feel so vested" in the results.

The Phillips-Martinezes are excited about the breadth and complexity of the 2016-17 season, which consists of two comedies, a murder mystery, two musicals, and a holiday revue featuring Frank Sinatra's songs. The shows are:

THE REALISTIC JONESES (September 16-24, 2016)

Pulitzer Prize finalist Will Eno's acclaimed comedy has left Broadway audiences and critics howling with delight. Soon after the Joneses, next-door neighbors in a typical American town, meet each other, they discover that they are suffering from similar problems. The couples engage in a complex game of wits.

A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED (November 4-13, 2016)

An announcement in the local paper states the time and place when a murder is to occur in Miss Blacklock's Victorian house. What follows is a classic Agatha Christie puzzle of mixed motives, concealed identities, and Miss Marple on hand to puzzle out the solution.

CHRISTMAS MY WAY: A SINATRA HOLIDAY BASH (December 9-18, 2016)

Make your holiday season swing with Christmas My Way: A Sinatra Holiday Bash, consisting of 40 swingin' hits that are perfect for the holidays, including: "Winter Wonderland," "Silver Bells" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas." There are even Rat Pack-ish versions of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

45 SECONDS FROM BROADWAY, by Neil Simon (January 27 to February 5, 2017)

The hysterical comedy is set in the coffee shop of the Edison Hotel, known affectionately as "The Polish Tea Room." It is literally about 45 seconds from Broadway, but miles away from making it on the Great White Way.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE (March 9-19, 2017)

A die hard theatre fan puts the cast album of his favorite stage musical on his record player to chase his blues away. Suddenly, his dingy apartment magically transforms into a 1928 Broadway set. The protagonist finds himself in the center of a "musical within a comedy," mixed up in mayhem with a starlet, her groom, a desperate producer, gangsters, a drunken chaperone and more.

NEXT TO NORMAL (April 21-30, 2017)

From the outside: the Goodmans seem like a perfect family. Sometimes mother Diana is a little too happy, in contrast to her husband, who worries all the time. Ddaughter Natalie seems I intent on getting that scholarship to Yale so she can leave home, and son Gabe, is another story entirely. The musical about the contemporary suburban family, NEXT TO NORMAL, won three Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize.

All of DTW's performances take place at the Arthur Newman Theatre, in the Joslyn Senior Center, 73-750 Catalina Way, Palm Desert CA, 92260. Tickets can be purchased online at www.dtworks.org, in person at the Joslyn Center, and by phone at 760-980-1455. General admission is $28, senior admission (ages 55+) is $26, and student admission (with i.d.) is $15. Season tickets for three shows are $72, and for five shows are $120. A package of six flex tickets, which can be used for any show during the season, up to a total of six tickets per package, are $144. Tickets for groups of 8-19 attendees are $22 each. Tickets for groups of twenty or more are $19 each. For further information, call the box office at 760-980-1455.