Desert Ensemble Theatre Presents TWO BY TONY Tonight

Desert Ensemble Theatre continues its record-breaking fourth season tonight, March 13 with a two-weekend run of Two by Tony, a matched set of one-act plays by Producing Artistic Director and award-winning playwright Tony Padilla. The performances will take place at the Pearl McManus Theater (Palm Springs Woman's Club) at 314 S. Cahuilla Road. Tickets are $22 ($18 for seniors, students and military) and can be reserved by calling 760-565-2476 or by purchasing in advance at www.detctheatre.org.

Family Meeting, directed by Artistic Director Rosemary Mallett, is a drama that follows members of a family in Chicago as they deal with unexpected changes -- divorce, relocation and revealed secrets -- that alter their lives in surprising ways. The Comeback, directed by Padilla, is a farce reminiscent of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. It's the story of a faded movie star planning her comeback, the con man after her money, and the unexpected love hiding under her nose. And, of course, there's a séance.

Tony Padilla is an award-winning playwright, having won recognition for his work from Rome, Italy where he was awarded the International Medal in the Schegge D'Autore playwriting festival for his play Endangered Species, to Palm Springs, where he recently received the Desert Theatre League's Bill Groves Award for Outstanding Original Writing for his play, Becoming Ava. His play, Reckoning is published in the college textbook, Three Genres by Stephen Minot, published by Prentice Hall. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

The company's season will conclude with the Palm Springs premiere of Fred Barton's cabaret cult classic Miss Gulch Returns!, starring Jerome Elliott as the feisty Kansas spinster from The Wizard of Oz (April 17-19 & 24-26).