All Photos by SLGibbs
Death Valley Junction, near the border of Nevada and California, has become the place where Marta Becket’s dreams have danced to reality for the past four decades. Ms. Becket has made this sandy, barren area at the southern most tip of Death Valley National Park a very magical place to visit.
On a recent visit, I had a chance to learn her story…
As a young girl, she was a very talented artist, pianist, and ballet dancer. She danced on the stages of Broadway and Radio City Music Hall. Her individual ambitions and dreams were to write her own shows and choreograph her own dances. She wanted to design her own costumes. She had dreams to do it all, including striking out on her own with a one-woman show.
On a vacation trip to Death Valley National Park in 1967, after months of touring with her show, Ms. Becket and her husband found themselves with a flat tire on their camping trailer. They were instructed to take the tire to Death Valley Junction for repair. While the tire was being fixed, Ms. Becket began to wander amongst the empty buildings of the small desert town.
She was drawn to a covered walkway with a continuous row of white pillars.The
U-shaped structure ended with a large building at one end that tugged at her curiosity. Finding the back door of the building, she looked through a small hole and saw the remnants of an old theater. She writes, “Peering through the tiny hole, I had the distinct feeling that I was looking at the other half of myself. The building seemed to be saying…..Take me…..do something with me…I offer you life”
Ms. Becket’s one-woman show soon came to life in a new, permanent home in Death Valley Junction. She danced her first performance on the stage of the Amargosa Opera House in February, 1968. Her shows drew locals and tourists. On some nights, to her disappointment, there was no audience to perform for.
Determined to always have an audience, she began to paint murals of people on every square inch of the theater walls and blue skies full of clouds, cherubs, and doves on the ceiling. It was a project that took her six years to complete. Every night she performed, she now had an audience.
She performed for the king and queen, the knights, the nuns, and the peasants…all the people in her imaginary “16th century village” were there for her every performance.
Forty years later, and at the age of 80 years plus, the show still goes on for Ms. Becket. Still writing and performing her own material, she performs every Saturday night from October to the 2nd weekend in May. The show has transformed over the years from an evening of vibrant dancing and song to an intimate evening of sharing the story of one’s life dream through narration and song.
So many stories in history have been about people who had dreams come true…Marta Becket is still living hers.
To Reserve Your Seat For The Show
Hotels Rooms are Available at the Amargosa Hotel and at the nearby Longstreet Inn and Casino
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