The Amargosa Opera House

by Joe Schofield

Title

The Amargosa Opera House

Artist

Joe Schofield

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The Amargosa Opera House. Rod Stewart once told us: "Every picture tells a story, don't it?" As such, you simply cannot make this place up. Here's a brief description:

Located in a remote stretch of desert, near the Nevada/California state line, the Amargosa Opera House, once an abandoned community center, offered weekly performances of classical ballet, theater, and pantomine. All the performances were written and executed by Marta Becket, a classically trained ballerina from New York, who came to this place to have a flat tire repaired in 1968, and essentially never left. Over the years she performed in the space, with or without an audience, and decorated the opera house with painted murals, portraying an audience of 16th century Spanish royalty, clerics, gypsies and revelers. Due to assorted health problems, her final performance was announced in 2012, but in 2013 she made a brief comeback in a program which involved no dancing. In 2014, portions of the Opera House were damaged by flooding, caused by heavy rain.
I stumbled across the place while exploring Death Valley many years ago.

Uploaded

October 14th, 2023

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