Austin playwright Allan Baker’s full-length play, “Dare”, will cap the 2017-2018 season for Desert Rose Playhouse, in Palm Springs, CA.  This play was the recent winner of the Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play contest sponsored by Castillo Theatre in New York City.  Desert Rose Playhouse is "Coachella Valley's LGBTQ and Gay Positive Stage Company" and was the 2014 Palm Springs Pride "Organization of the Year".  

Founded in 2012 by Jim Strait and Paul Taylor, veteran Southern California theatre professionals since the '70s, this will be their  6th season.  Previous productions at Desert Rose have included "Boys in the Band", "Entertaining Mr. Sloane", "Love, Valour, Compassion", "The Little Dog Laughed", "Loot", "Angels in America:  Part 1", "Cock" and "Southern Baptist Sissies".  "Dare" will end their 2017-2018 season, which includes "Vanya & Sashia & Masha & Spike", "Times Square Angel", "Fifth of July", and "Suddenly Last Summer".  According to Artistic Director Jim Strait, "Dare" "...is one of the most beautiful and moving plays we've read in a long time".  "Dare" will run April 20th to May 13th, 2018,  

 

Synopsis: In a nursing home in the Central Valley of California, Jack, an 82-year-old gay man, reflects on a life that has spanned the most tumultuous years of gay history, with flashbacks to San Francisco, '73, Fire Island, '78 and New York City, '87 and '90.   Jackexplains to Josh, a young gay doctor, his decision to end his life and complete the “dramatic arc” of his character in the play that is Jack's life. This play weaves together the history of gay liberation, the enduring threat of homophobia, the impact of AIDS, aging in the gay community, end of life issues, the argument between advocates of gay “assimilation” and gay “exceptionalism”...and the vital role of drag queens.

 

In February, 2015 a staged reading of an early version of this play was given at The Ground Floor Theatre, in Austin.  The development of this play was supported by the Scriptworks Seed Support Fund.   Since 2004, Allan has written 13 plays.  With the Desert Rose production, 11 of these plays will have been onstage in a total of 22 productions and 7 staged readings, from coast to coast and from Guam to Ontario.  For information on Allan’s plays, you may visit abbyproductions.com.