Dezart Performs Nominated for 15 Desert Star Awards
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Dezart Performs Nominated for 15 Desert Star Awards
Winners Announced By The Desert Theatre League October 16
in Live Ceremony at Sun City Palm Desert
3 August 2022 – Palm Springs, CA: Getting ready for its landmark 15th season, the celebrated Dezart Performs (www.dezartperforms.org) has secured 15 nominations for the 36th annual “Desert Star Awards” including the categories of Outstanding Production of a Drama (Professional) for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. themed THE MOUNTAINTOP and the company’s first ever musical, GIRLFRIEND, nominated for Outstanding Production of a Musical (Professional). Michael Shaw has been nominated for The Michael Cruickshank Award for Outstanding Director of a Drama (Professional) along with Deborah Harmon for Outstanding Director of a Comedy (Professional). Awards for outstanding lead actors include Shante Deloach, Cortez Johnson (THE MOUNTAINTOP) and Joel Bryant (EVERY BRILLIANT THING). Additional nominations include outstanding lighting design, set design, sound design, costume design, hair and makeup design and props and special effects.
The winners of the 36th annual Desert Theatre League “Desert Stars” Awards will be announced October 16, 2022 in a live-and-in person ceremony at Sun City Palm Desert, the first such in-person event since 2019.
“Programming our first moving-on-from COVID season was an emotional experience,” said Dezart Performs Founding Artistic Director Michael Shaw. “Juggling the pandemic-related protocols for audience, cast and crew made it even more of a challenge. So, these nominations are even more humbling and appreciated than ever.”
The complete list of “Desert Star Awards” nominations for Dezart Performs are as follows:
Outstanding Production Musical – Professional
GIRLFRIEND
Outstanding Production of a Drama – Professional
THE MOUNTAINTOP
The Michael Cruickshank Award for Outstanding Director of a Drama – Professional
Michael Shaw – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Outstanding Director of a Comedy – Professional
Deborah Harmon – EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama – Professional
Cortez Johnson – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama
Shante Deloach – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy – Professional
Joel Bryant – EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Outstanding Set Design – Professional
Thomas L. Valach – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Outstanding Sound Design – Professional
Clark Dugger – EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Clark Dugger – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Outstanding Lighting Design – Professional
Joel Howden – GIRLFRIEND
Derrick McDaniel – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Outstanding Costume Design – Professional
Frank Cazares – THE MOUNTAINTOP
The Ron Hamm Award for Outstanding Hair and Makeup Design – Professional
Lynda Shaeps – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Outstanding Props and Special Effects
Greg Thorneycroft – THE MOUNTAINTOP
Details about the upcoming 15th Season for Dezart Performs follow:
A drama with music, CHOIR BOY by Tarell Alvin McCraney (October 28 – November 6, 2022) is a moving story of sexuality, race, hope, gospel music, and a young gay man finding his voice. This coming-of-age story follows a group of young Black students at Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, a highly respected institution dedicated to helping its students grow into “strong, ethical Black men.” But what happens when young student Pharus does not fit the mold for a typical “Drew man.” Pharus is different from his peers, and his effeminate nature constantly sets him apart. Though he may be the leader and most talented member of Drew’s renowned gospel choir, he struggles to gain their acceptance and respect.Content Advisory: This play contains nudity.
In the dark comedy A BRIGHT NEW BOISE (January 13 – 22, 2023) by Samuel D. Hunter, we find ourselves in the bleak, corporate break room of a craft store in Idaho. Will, 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, his brooding teenage son, whom he gave up for adoption several years ago. Alex works there along with Leroy, his adopted brother and protector, and Anna, a hapless young woman who reads bland fiction but hopes for dramatic endings. As their manager, foul-mouthed Pauline, 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.
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)— despite the title — is a comedy by Halley Feiffer. A foul-mouthed twenty-something comedian and a middle-aged man embroiled in a nasty divorce are brought together unexpectedly when their cancer-stricken mothers become roommates in the hospital. Together, this unlikely duo must negotiate some of life’s biggest challenges…while making some of the world’s most inappropriate jokes. Can these two very lost people learn to laugh through their pain and lean on each other, when all they really want to do is run away? Content Advisory: This production contains profanity, sexual language, and simulated sex.
THE GARBOLOGISTS (April 14 – 23, 2023), the new comedy-drama by Lindsay Joelle, chronicles a white conservative New York City sanitation worker and a Black Ivy-educated single mother, thrown together in the cab of a NYC garbage truck, working for the Dept. of Sanitation. They spend their shifts bickering, one-upping each other, and practicing the secret art of mongo: hunting for treasure in the trash. But as their lives become increasingly entwined, they discover some things are easier to toss than others. Honoring our essential workers, THE GARBOLOGISTS is a hopeful story about finding common ground in uncommon times.
New season subscriptions will be available starting August 16; individual show tickets go on sale September 13.
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. Beginning August 16, subscription sales will be available 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.
15th Dezart Performs’ Season Listing
CHOIR BOY
October 28 – November 6, 2022
Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Drama with music
2019 Tony nominee for Best Play
2019 Drama Desk winner for Outstanding Music in a Play
“… the choral music is rich and rousing.” – New York Stage Review
“[CHOIR BOY] registers with potency, examining its themes with a mixture of poignancy and humor…it soars.” – The New York Post
“CHOIR BOY is a drama so infused with emotion that it can’t help breaking into song.”
– Hartford Courant
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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
“[Samuel D. Hunter] is one of the finest playwrights at work today.” – The Wall Street Journal
“… the playwright brings humanity and humility to his repressed characters as they struggle to connect and find a means of self-expression.” – Theatermania
“Hunter’s sense of place is richer and more peculiar than any other American playwright working today.” – The New York Times
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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
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.
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