Drama Desk and Obie Award Winning Dark Comedy by Samuel D. Hunter A BRIGHT NEW BOISE
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Drama Desk and Obie Award Winning Dark Comedy by Samuel D. Hunter
A BRIGHT NEW BOISE continues 15th Season for Dezart Performs
January 13 – 22
30 November 2022 – Palm Springs: Acclaimed playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s “humorous and touching exploration of faith and family” (NYTheatre.com) A BRIGHT NEW BOISE continues the historic 15th season for Dezart Performs of Palm Springs (www.dezartperforms.org). “This clear-eyed comedy (that) will lift your heart” (Time Out New York) runs January 13 – 22 at the Pearl McManus Theatre in downtown Palm Springs.
In A BRIGHT NEW BOISE, we find ourselves in the bleak, corporate break room of a craft store in Idaho. Will (Eric Patrick Harper), who has fled his rural hometown after a scandal at his Evangelical church, comes to the Hobby Lobby, not only for employment, but also to rekindle a relationship with Alex (Jacob Cherry), his brooding teenage son, whom he gave up for adoption several years ago. Alex works there along with Leroy (Austin Minard), his adopted brother and protector, and Anna (Lea Madda), a hapless young woman who reads bland fiction but hopes for dramatic endings. As their manager, foul-mouthed Pauline (Nicole Delsack), tries ceaselessly to find order (and profit) in the chaos of small business, these lost souls of the Hobby Lobby confront an unyielding world through the beige-tinted impossibility of modern faith.
“This is a play that I’ve long wanted to bring to the Valley and now felt like the right time,” said Dezart Performs founding artistic director Michael Shaw who is directing A BRIGHT NEW BOISE which runs for 90 minutes without intermission. “It deals with playwright Hunter’s recurring themes of familiar alienation, physical challenge, and how faith is exposed in the secular, corporate world.”
The recipient of a 2014 MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called “Genius Award”, Hunter is also a writer and producer for the hit television show BASKETS. Premiered at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, the movie WHALE starring Brendan Fraser and based on Hunter’s play of the same name, is scheduled for wide screen release December 9.
“[Samuel D. Hunter] is one of the finest playwrights at work today” (The Wall Street Journal). His writing “brings humanity and humility to his repressed characters as they struggle to connect and find a means of self-expression” (Theatermania) and “Hunter’s sense of place is richer and more peculiar than any other American playwright working today” (The New York Times).
Following A BRIGHT NEW BOISE, Dezart Performscontinues its season with the critically-acclaimed comedy with perhaps theatre’s longest title ever, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY UNIT AT THE MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER OF NEW YORK CITY (March 3 – 12). The season closes out with the acclaimed new buddy comedy THE GARBOLOGISTS (April 14 – 23).All performances take place at the Pearl McManus Theater (at the historic Palm Springs Woman’s Club) 314 S Cahuilla Road, Downtown Palm Springs. Ticket prices are $39 – $50. Tickets may be purchased online at www.dezartperforms.org, or by calling (760) 322-0179. Showtimes are Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2pm and 7:30pm; Sundays at 2pm.
Dezart Performs, one of the Coachella Valley’s preeminent theatre companies, recognizes that the performing arts enrich the life and culture of a community, promote greater understanding and provoke insightful discussion. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company, its mission is to provide an artistic home for bold and cutting–edge plays, creating an atmosphere of artistic growth for actors, writers, and directors who uniquely contribute to the diverse theatrical environment in the Coachella Valley.
15th Dezart Performs’ Season Listing
A BRIGHT NEW BOISE
January 13 – 22, 2023
Written by Samuel D. Hunter
Dark comedy
2011 Obie Award winner for Playwriting
2011 Drama Desk nominee for Outstanding Play
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A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY UNIT AT THE MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER OF NEW YORK CITY
March 3 – 12, 2023
Written by Halley Feiffer
Comedy
“[A FUNNY THING HAPPENED…is] a play that is as deeply felt as its name is long. – The New York Times
“The play is as defiantly unconventional as its title, but it is also satisfying in traditional ways.” – The Los Angeles Times
“Feiffer again demonstrates a talent for crafting caustically sharp comic dialogue.” – The Hollywood Reporter
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THE GARBOLOGISTS
April 14 – 23, 2023
Written by Lindsay Joelle
New comedy/drama
“THE GARBOLOGISTS takes us on a ride of sadness, joy, anger, disbelief, and understanding.” –Grid Magazine
“Lindsay Joelle’s finely crafted play is laced with wit and wisdom.” – Broadway World
“[THE GARBOLOGISTS] is delightfully intimate, surprising, and profound, filled with sometimes unexpected laughter and even tears..” – onStage Pittsburgh
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