Desert Ensemble Theater's 2015-16 Season to Include BAD JEWS & More

Desert Ensemble Theatre Company (DETC) today announced plans for its 5th Anniversary Season in 2015-16.

Following its record-breaking 4th Season, which garnered 26 Desert Start Award nominations from the Desert Theatre League, DETC again will offer at least six performances of all productions with the exception of the Season Gala. All performances will take place in the Pearl McManus Theater at the Palm Springs Woman's Club, 314 S. Cahuilla Road in Palm Springs.

Founder and Producing Artistic Director Tony Padilla describes the thrust of the 2015-16 Season: "We have selected plays that share common themes of contemporary life: people's outsized need for attention; the disruptive effects such need can have on those around us; and the prices we pay individually and collectively in our quest for recognition."

The Season begins on October 16, 2015 with the 2nd Annual DETC Season Gala. Three of the Desert's most accomplished musical theatre talents-Charles Herrera, Theresa Jewett and Jerome Elliott-perform Showstoppers!, a revue of some of the most crowd-pleasing musical numbers from the Broadway stage. Elliott conceived and will direct this cabaret-style evening, proceeds from which support scholarships for Palm Springs High School students moving on to college theater studies.

Padilla, one of the Desert's most prolific and renowned playwrights, directs a production of his newest work Look at Me. This dark comedy with a dose of poetic justice takes a look at how the speed of social media has affected family dynamics. It exposes the devaluing of personal privacy and its acceptance as fair game. Padilla won the Desert Theatre League's 2014 Bill Groves Award for Outstanding Original Writing for his farce Becoming Ava. March 11-13 and 18-20, 2016.

Artistic Director Rosemary Mallett directs a controversial new work that was dubbed "the best comedy of the season" by Charles Isherwood in The New York Times. Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon was a huge hit for the Roundabout Theater, and is attracting attention in productions in the U.S. and worldwide. The play is a fierce, biting comedy about family, faith and what you choose to believe, when you're chosen. April 8-10 and April 15-17.

A third production, slated for February 2016, will be announced this fall. DETC is currently in negotiations with an L.A.-based production company to import a critically acclaimed new play about an iconic movie star who had close ties to the Desert.

Tickets for all productions are available through the company's website, www.detctheatre.org or by calling 760-565-2476.

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