Review: Desert Rose Playhouse does a Fine Job with POZ, a Complex Play

Desert Rose Playhouse has cast an A-team in its fifth season's opening play, POZ, by Michael Aman. The result is a superbly acted and directed production.

Billed as a comedy, I would instead characterize POZ, for which Desert Rose's production is only the third in the world, as a sweet, comic drama with depth. The first act - the more serious one - needs pruning, in my opinion. However, the second act, perhaps because it is more humorous, moves more quickly.

POZ begins in 2002 in New York, while the city was still mourning the lives - and innocence - lost the previous year in the 9-11 attacks. As one character says, straight people were walking around wearing the same sadness on their faces that gay people exhibited in the 1980's, when the AIDS epidemic was decimating the young, gay male population. The play centers around Edison (Peter Stoia, in his Desert Rose debut), a 23-year-old actor (i.e., a waiter) who gets sick not with HIV, but with leukemia. Edison, who does not yet qualify for the actors' union and its insurance plan, has no health insurance - Obamacare is many years in the future - and no way to pay for the chemotherapy he needs. Retired musical theatre actor Catherine (Adina Lawson), herself suffering from a life-threatening case of asthma, introduces Edison to Oscar (Terry Huber), a gay man who works for a program that provides care for uninsured individuals. The catch is that only people who are HIV positive qualify.

Edison figures he's no more likely to die of AIDS and leukemia than leukemia alone, and, at least, if he gets himself infected, he'll qualify for Oscar's program. He joins a dating site for people who are "POZ" and meets Robert (Richard Marlow), a fifty-year-old promiscuous lawyer, who isn't sure about dating as opposed to having casual sexual encounters, let alone dating a man less than half his age. Maia (Lorraine Williamson), a lesbian psychic who is Catherine's best friend and who was formerly married to Oscar, and Arthur (John Fryer), an angel, who was a young dancer who died from AIDS, are the other two characters in the play.

Between the plot, which resembles a Rubik's cube, and the supernatural beings, POZ bears a passing resemblance to ANGELS IN AMERICA. However, in keeping with artistic director Jim Strait's intent to present upbeat works during the 2016-17 season, the convoluted, intersecting story lines result in all the characters reaching cheerful resolutions to their various problems - even the angels and the cat. Yet, POZ is definitely not a piece of fluff. In my opinion, this play is best approached as a serious play with funny moments and messages about love, friendship, loyalty, promiscuity, politics, and the unsinkable spirit of New Yorkers.

Although Desert Rose pays small stipends to its performers, it is nonetheless classified as a community theatre. The versatile Adina Lawson and Terry Huber, both of whom I have had the pleasure of watching many times, perform brilliantly, as usual. Most of the other cast members are new to Desert Rose. They, too, are fortuitous finds for the 501(c)(3) organization; the ensemble cast members, under Jim Strait's able direction, weave a rich tapestry of ideas with their top-notch performances. When these characters argue, insult each other, and try to keep each other sane, they appear to be a family trying to make sense of the world.

Although I am aware that I am nitpicking, there is one directorial decision with which I disagree: At one point, two characters stand to the front of the stage, on the stage-right side, and face to their right. As a result of this blocking decision, much of the audience sees only the characters' back during the scene.

POZ is likely to appeal to straight audience members as well as the LGBT people to whom Desert Rose targets its productions, because POZ deals with issues familiar to all Americans - who hasn't heard about the tough decisions people had to make before Obamacare, when they had no access to group health insurance? POZ contains no nudity or sex, other than a kiss, and, in my opinion, is suitable for teenagers on up.

The backstage and front office participants in POZ are Paul Taylor (producer), Steve Fisher (stage manager), Phil Murphy (lighting), Thomas L. Valach (scenery), Walter Lab (scenic painting), costumes (Robbie Wayne), and David Atkisson and Jason Smith (set builders).

The rest of Desert Rose's 2016-17 season consists of:

THE SANTALAND DIARIES, by David Sedaris and Joe Mantello, November 18 - December 18, 2016.
Based on the true chronicles of humorist David Sedaris' experience as Crumpet the Elf in Macy's Santaland display, this Christmas classic riffs on a few of Sedaris' truly odd encounters during the height of the holiday crunch. A very funny and very real glimpse into the workaday world of Santa's helpers! Not for children.

Desert Rose's Gay Heritage Production: VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM and COMA by Charles Busch, January 20 - February 12, 2017.
VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM tells the saga of two fatally seductive vampiresses whose paths first collide in ancient Sodom. Their bitter rivalry as bloodsuckers but more importantly, as actresses, endures for two thousand years with stops along the way in 1920's silent movie Hollywood and contemporary Las Vegas. Joining VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM is its companion piece, SLEEPING BEAUTY OR COMA, the classic fairy tale retold in the sixties mod London fashion world. Contains very funny adult material and brief nudity.

SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES by Del Shores, March 10 - April 2, 2017.
Storyteller Mark Lee Fuller tries to create a world of love and acceptance in the church and clubs of Dallas, Texas, while desperately trying to find a place to put his own pain and rage. The world Mark creates also includes two older barflies, Peanut and Odette, whose banter takes the audience from hysterical laughter to tragedy and tears. Contains adult material and brief nudity.

CLARK GABLE SLEPT HERE, by Michael McKeever, April 28 - May 21, 2017.
One of the silver screen's brightest action stars charms his way through the Golden Globe Awards ceremony accompanied by his wife. Meanwhile, back at the Chateau Marmont, his staff tries to figure out what to do with the naked dead male prostitute on his bedroom floor. A jet-black satire on what it means to be a "man" in the make-believe world of motion pictures, where nothing is ever what it seems and closets are used for so much more than hanging up your tuxedo. Adult material and nudity.

Ticket prices for Friday and Saturday 8 PM performances are $35 each; and $32 for Sunday 2 PM mnatinee performances. Tickets for each production will go on sale 3 weeks prior to each show's opening.

Save 20% off of single tickets prices by purchasing Season Tickets.

Five Production Friday or Saturday 8 PM performances: $ 140

Five Production Sunday 2 PM performances: $ 128

Season Tickets and tickets for individual productions can be ordered online at www.desertroseplayhouse.org or by calling DRP's Box Office at 760-202-3000. There is no service charge for Internet or phone orders.

The Desert Rose Playhouse is located just north of Frank Sinatra Boulevard, near the Emperor Buffet, at 69-620 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270. The Box Office opens at 4 p.m. before evening performances and at noon on Sundays.

Photo Credit: Morning Star Productions, Inc.

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