Dezart Performs Opens 2013-14 Season with West Coast Premiere of EXQUISITE POTENTIAL, Now thru 11/24

Dezart Performs opens its 2013-14 season with the West Coast Premiere of "Exquisite Potential," the award-winning comedy by Stephen Kaplan today, Nov. 22 to open the 2013-14 season of Dezart Performs. "Exquisite Potential" will run for two weekends, November 22-24 and November 29-December 1, 2013 at Dezart Performs' theatrical home in downtown Palm Springs, the historic Palm Springs Woman's Club.

The premise: What would happen if a man and his wife went to visit their rabbi to discuss the naming service for the new baby they're expecting-and the man announced that he believes their 3-year-old son is the Messiah? And produced a list of 997 miracles that would prove his conviction? Kaplan's amusing but thought-provoking comedy will be directed by Joan McGillis and star Adina Lawson, Garnett Smith, Scott Smith and Michael Shaw. The actors play dual roles, as the comedy follows the lives of the boy who is potentially a Messiah and of his little sister, exploring the expectation we put on others and ourselves to "do good."

"Exquisite Potential" was the winner of the New Jersey Playwrights Contest and the Across The Generations New Jewish Play Festival. It was voted Audience Favorite at Dezart Performs' 2013 Play Reading Series last spring, earning the full production this fall. Playwright Kaplan grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles and wrote his first play, "And Jack Came Tumbling After," while attending a high school summer program. Winning the California Young Playwright's Competition, it received a production at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre. He's been writing plays and musicals ever since, and has collaborated on several Broadway shows including "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "Saturday Night Fever." He also served as Chair of the theatre program at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the "Fame" school) and now teaches at Bergen County Academies in New Jersey, where he lives with his husband and son.

Following "Exquisite Potential" will be a production of the other Audience Favorite from the Play Reading Series: "Invasion of Privacy," by Larry Parr, based on the true story of a lawsuit filed against Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of "The Yearling," playing Jan. 31-Feb. 9, 2014. On March 13, 2014, a special fundraising gala called "On The Air!" will feature a celebrity cast in a live, on-stage re-creation of classic radio shows at the Camelot Theatres.

Completing the season, on Fridays and Saturdays from April 11-19, the 6th Annual Play Reading Series will be held, featuring readings of the top-ranked plays submitted by playwrights from across the country and around the world. Continuing the cycle, the play garnering the most approval will be named the Audience Favorite and that work fully produced in the 2014-15 season.

For more information about "Exquisite Potential" and the Dezart Performs 2013-14 season, please call 800-838-3006 or go to www.dezartperforms.com.

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