One particular night, a six-year-old girl from the San Francisco Bay Area attended a show with her family. To stage her own works over the years, Marta created scenery, masks, and costumes, putting on productions until she was 87 years old. Six years later, she had finished painting her eternal audience. “There were many performances I gave when no audience came at all,” she recalls, “but I proceeded to perform anyway.” Her solution-cover the blank walls with people. Renaming it the Amargosa Opera House, she presented her first performance there in 1968 in front of 12 adults and a smattering of kids and grandkids. “The building seemed to be saying, ‘Take me-do something with me.’” The next day, she and her husband did, renting the space for $45 a month. While exploring abandoned adobe buildings in an area now known as Death Valley Junction, near the southeast boundary of the park, Marta came upon what appeared to be a performance space. Do something with me.’” - Marta Becket, dancer and artist “The building seemed to be saying, ‘Take me.

Soon thereafter, needing a break from touring the country, she and her husband decided to go camping in Death Valley. “I went to visit this fortuneteller in New York, and she said, ‘You will be leaving New York for a very rural place, and you will be doing the best work of your life in this place,’” recounts Marta. In 1967, the New York dancer, who had performed on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall, dreamed of having her own place to create and perform her works. While some ballet dancers may dream of performing in front of adoring throngs in New York or Paris, others are drawn to settings with decidedly lower wattage.

Amargosa opera house history