Passing of Palm Springs

Back around the turn of the century, 2000 to be exact, Palm Springs was on the cusp of some pretty big changes. It was the end of old Hollywood and the beginning of hipsters, millennials and a more diverse population coming to town. Together, they were changing the social, cultural, and architectural landscape of the community. Sharon and I saw it all and went along for the ride.

Palm Springs Life magazine was one barometer of these subtle yet definable changes happening all around us. Gradually the magazine began shifting focus from ‘who was in town’ to grumbling about the old downtown and talk of a revitalization that reflected changing patterns of tourism and economic growth. The old guard could still be found on the golf course but they now had company with much younger swingers.

Condominium living caught our attention and we succumbed to the idea of a second place to spend our winter months. In the beginning, the Palm Villas began as a rental and then unexpectedly stayed that way for many years. It was a new beginning, prior to retirement, with several twists and turns along the way. Canyon View Estates, was another curve in the road that ended when the Condo board made living there unappealing.

Single family living surprised both of us but turned out to be the right choice. It became the family’s annual meeting place to celebrate either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Many memories were made there over the years. We are so fortunately that our grandchildren literally grew up in the warm California sun.

Maya was the first grandchild to visit when she was three or four years old. Now seventeen and accompanied by two siblings and two cousins, they have all come to relish Nana’s pool and time spent with the two families and grandparents.

While the years rolled by and the families built wonderful memories here, the world of Palm Springs continued changing. Old downtown Palm Springs grew tired and stale. After years of slow and/or no growth, change was finally in the air. Hipsters and a growing diverse demographic fueled the much-needed improvements and changes.

Of course, there were casualties along the way. Starbucks in the Warm Sands neighborhood finally succumbed to the growing issues with the homeless population and changing tourist patterns.

The changes for me were more subtle. The Palm Springs Writers Guild began as a wonderful conduit of writing contacts, direction and guidance as I was beginning my own journey of vernacular discovery. Over the years, there was much to learn and unlearn. But gradually the years grew tired with repetitious lectures and little new information.

Local theatrical venues afforded me a great opportunity to stage manage other productions and examine them in detail. This too changed with the pandemic and a change of management. There seemed to be a discernable, almost palatable change of course BP-AP; before the pandemic and after the pandemic.

Our local neighborhood organization hosted their annual fall and spring neighborhood parties. Attendance varied over the years but showed a very discernable change of demographic. There seems to be a lot more DINKs moving into the neighborhood.

One friend, whose home was always a local gathering spot for friends, out of town visitors, local groups and traveling associates, was sold. It truly marked the end of an era. Other friends and associates who had lived here for many years either moved away, died or lost touch with us. Things were changing even as we pondered our future here.

The Widow has Found a Home

Back in December of 2018, Polly found a very welcoming and appreciative home here in the desert. The audience welcomed her with attentive listening and open hearts. I hope it can happen again for the Widow.

S2S was the perfect place to tell Polly’s story. ‘Polly’s Amorous Adventure’ was performed at the Script2Stage2Screen venue. S2S is an innovative performing arts organization for the development of original productions on the stage. It is a performing arts project of the Unitarian Church of the Desert (UUCOD) in Rancho Mirage, CA.

‘Polly’s Amorous Adventure’ is a play about a woman’s polyamorous relationship with two men. In theatrical terms, it was seen as a farce and played as such. Yet it was imperative to me (as the playwright) that the director and actors understood the seriousness of this kind of relationship for some people.

A polyamorous relationship is defined as a romantic relationship with more than one person. What distinguishes it from a classic love triangle is that all the partners know about each other and are accepting of those other relationships. It can pertain to men or women or a combination of both.

We (the director, myself, and the actors) had fun with the characters but always treated the subject matter with respect and honesty. Our audiences truly appreciated that approach. I’m expecting the same for my second play coming up at S2S.

‘Polly’ had a full house both evenings and the audience seemed to really enjoy the outstanding performances of our actors. I’m hoping the magic of those two evenings will repeat itself with my next play being performed this weekend at S2S. It’s called ‘Widow’s Waltz.’ Although it follows a totally different storyline, it is, I hope, one that is just as fascinating, thought-provoking, and entertaining.

The fact that ‘Widow’s Waltz’ found a venue is a minor miracle in itself. COVID-19 and the domino effects of the pandemic radically changed the theater world for a long period of time. Yet even with a year and a half of dormant theaters and empty stages, playwrights didn’t stop writing. World-wide, these talented stage crafters were pounding away at keyboards, writing pads, tablets, and blackboards to create novels, plays and screenplays.

When S2S announced that they were accepting submissions of plays for their 2022-2023 season they were surprised and delighted when more than eighty submissions came in, some from as far away as Thailand. All of this for just eight performance weekends available.

‘Widow’s Waltz’ was born in Palm Springs about the same time the city shut down and no one knew what to make of this strange and frightening virus that was causing such fear and consternation world-wide. The genesis of the play came from my own experiences among our myriad of friends here in the desert, especially our gay friends.

My wife, Sharon, is the hostess-with-the-most. She relishes large and small gatherings at our house. Holiday events and small dinner engagements are her specialty. At most events we always seem to have one or two guests who are older, single, and gay. Not surprisingly (I’m a writer, right!) it got me to thinking about them; their lifestyle and being alone without that someone else. All seem to have a plethora of friends, associates, companions, and buddies. But that’s different than being a couple. Thus was born ‘Widow’s Waltz.’

I won’t give away too much of the play except to say that our director, Morgana Corelli, a veteran actress, is quite adapt at taking my script and honing it into a tell-able, inviting story on stage. Her choice of actors makes me feel very confident in saying: ‘They’ve got it’ and my play is in very good hands.

The play was a challenge to write. Unlike ‘Polly, I don’t have silly yet serious characters, a Doctor Ruth kind of PC with a bent toward sexual liberation and innuendos popping up all the time. ‘Widow’s Waltz’ is a more serious study of the human condition but with humor and pathos mixed in. Character studies, personal motivation, external as well as internal, and conflicts always present numerous challenges in the writing process.

Now it’s time to see if the audiences find the characters and their real-life story as satisfying to see as I had to write them.

Performances began at 7:30pm on Friday, November 18th and Saturday, November 19th. The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert is located at 72425 Via Vail,Rancho Mirage, CA 92270.

Hope to see you there.

California Dreamin

I felt from the onset, upon returning to Minnesota, that this season would be different. I wasn’t wrong. Waleed, Sweetpea and a host of other characters made it one memorable summer. The work flow continued unabated and kept growing.

Waleed, my loveable skinny hippo, kept growing with two additional languages added to the storyline. In addition to English in every book, there now will be a choice of a second language; Swahili, Spanish or Hmong.

My new kind of comic strip called ‘Sweetpea and the Gang’ continued to morph in many different directions. Rather quickly, Sweetpea gained newfound traction with four comic strips completed, a sampler going out for review to prospective readers, and a growing inventory of story ideas for the strip. There are still many miles to travel before a clearly focused marketing plan is finalized.

While I wasn’t able to produce a new play in Minnesota this summer, I struck gold in California. ‘Widow’s Waltz,’ a different kind of love story, was accepted by Script2Stage in Palm Springs, California. Chosen for one of eight performance slots out of more than eighty submissions (from as far away as Germany and Thailand) my new play will be performed in November.

There were a number of other projects in various stages of development or marketing efforts. Both the PTV and Tangled Roots are at the head of that writing bundle to be completed.

I started out this summer with high hopes for a continuation of my ‘Coffee and Chat’ sessions. Very quickly, reality crept into the picture and several past participants choose to go their own separate ways. My remaining cerebral partners shared a wonderful summer, meeting up at parks, beach fronts, patios, and coffee shops, to engage in a wide variety of verbal bantering, mental jousting, and comradery.

The number of my blog readers seemed to rise and fall according to the subject matter; always a mystery to me. I also lost several long-time faithful readers who gradually disappeared over time; who knows why?

All of which leaves me entering this fall with a growing portfolio of projects; all of them in various stages of development or marketing phases. My transition to the desert should be a smooth one given my second lifestyle inside my head. While it’s not the land of milk and honey as envisioned by the refuges from the dust bowl back in the thirties, there’s definitely something about California that is calling me.

I have had a long and fractured romance with California. Its part delusional, part opportunistic and part magical. Mostly it’s a comfortable relationship that seems to bring out the flip side of me that a lot of folks never see. It is at once my friend, advisor, irritator, and councilor. It forces me outside of my Midwestern comfort zone.

We’ve been going there for more than twenty years. It’s like some intermittent love affair within a diverse community of characters in an environment of fascinating amenities. As much as the state changes and evolves, and stumbles and leaps ahead of others, it remains a pathfinder to me in so many ways.

It’s the cradle from which my imagination gives birth to creative, frivolous, silly, and enlightened ideas, concepts, and storylines. It inspires me and mocks me at the same time. It’s the flip side of that routine called lifestyle. If ever there were a strange balance in my life it might be labeled the Minnesota-California connection.

There’s a quote I love that goes something like this: “At some point in the journey, you realize it’s time to head back home. It doesn’t matter where you are in the journey, the Gods begin calling and you must return home.” I think there is something about that mysterious force called ‘home’ that calls to all of us. It happens to me every fall and then again in the spring.

Every fall, my tenure in Minnesota is challenged by my West Coast other-half knocking on the door of residency. Now that I’m part-time Californian, my perspective about my home state has changed. I love California. It appeals to my restless youth, errant and wandering mind, free soul, sometime corrupt and tranquilizing imagination. Come springtime, I feel the same way about Minnesota.

I live in two different worlds and I’m comfortable in both. One is progressive, adventurous, and sometimes a bit outrageous but always leaning forward. For half a year I wear my Southern California flip-flops as comfortably as any other seeker. But I also live in the Midwest and I’m darn proud of that too.

Starting this fall, there will be a new play to produce, more work on ‘Sweetpea’ and ‘Waleed’ and more involvement in the theater scene here. There will also be new trails to explore and more distant attractions like Joshua Tree, Laguna Beach, and Idyllwild to add to that list.

It’s a different environment for me here among the bobcats, cougars, coyotes, and bear-state mentality but the workload continues on unabated. I have a plethora of writing projects that are screaming for my attention.

Yet I know for a fact that come next spring, the same magical force will once again draw my attention back to Minnesota. I’m born and bred Minnesotan with a strong streak of California to taint my mind. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Both states have become home in more ways than one. They’re like a cradle upon which my imagination gives birth to creative, frivolous, silly, and sometimes enlightened ideas, concepts, and storylines. It’s the flip side of that routine called your average lifestyle. If ever there were a balance in my life, it would be called the Minnesota-California connection.

What can I say; it works for me.

Some Things Never Change

There’s an old saying that goes something like ‘Some Things never Change.’ It’s a cliché that assumes the past will repeat itself, and current events are likely to come around again in the near future. Seasonal visitors to the Coachella Valley often pack this assumption with them as they plan out their winter vacations here. This desert playground and its inherent lifestyle is planned, probable and predictable.  Except this season, it was different for them and for us.

In fact, seasons like routines and the people who follow them do change, evolve, and morph into other experiences given enough time. It happened this season and it started with the weather.

While last year’s winter temperatures averaged about ten degrees warmer than normal, this year’s temps hovered about ten degrees below the norm. The Weather Service blamed it on very active weather patterns. Translated, the jet streams were going crazy and the desert went cold. Granted, one has to be very careful complaining about a daytime temp in the mid-sixties when many other parts of the country are suffering with below zero temperatures and snow cyclones. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the old desert like in years past.

Then on Valentine’s Day, the Coachella Valley experienced three and a half inches of rain in one afternoon. The average rain fall for the entire year is about five inches. There was flooding in all the arroyos and many of the major roadways were impassible.

In addition, there were subtle changes going on all around us. The old thrift stores, long a mecca for deals of every type, had changed their business strategies and approach. They were no longer the bargain bins they once were. There were also fewer estate and garage sales, no real reason why.

Downtown Palm Springs was finally filling in and with it came a new onslaught of tourists and travelers bent on experiencing the Palm Springs lifestyle. There were a couple of disappointing shows at our top-notch venue, the MaCallum Theater.

Like a lot of old friends and acquaintances here, Sharon and I tried to continue our old routine of work and play but it was different this time around. Several seasonal couples had moved on to other pastures and no longer spent winters in the desert. A few older friends had passed away. New relationships had been formed or left to wither away through an absence of communication. The yearlong residents had evolved with the seasons and no longer focused just on ‘the season’ to fill their days and nights. The old pattern of weekly dinner parties, card games and bunco was no longer the order of the day for them.

In past seasons Sharon and I have found our daily routine after a pretty short while here. Sharon used to go swimming almost every day with the other mermaids at a hotel nearby. Now the air temps made swimming a daily challenge for the mermaids. Then their hotel decided not to heat its pool in January and February while it underwent repairs. The water temp dropped to the 50s and the mermaids dropped out, waiting for warmer temps to arrive. It was a long two-month wait.

In years past, Sharon had taken a number of art classes in local venues. Now she found that new ones weren’t being offered. Her garage studio wasn’t much in use since the air temp was often too cold for the paints to dry properly.  Busy schedules and colder temperatures hindered her painting pals from coming over and group painting as they had in seasons past.

I used to sequester myself in my office and work on my ‘novel in progress’ each morning. Afternoons were taken up by working out at the local gym, occasional library visits, Palm Springs Writers Guild critique groups and an assortment of other activities. But even those daily activities had gradually morphed into other daily routines. Writing novels had been replaced with plays and marketing had taken on new prominence with my works.

My first timid tip-toe into local theater was beginning to grow into larger steps in that direction. My writing had expanded to include more complicated plays and screenwriting. There was a sense of urgency to reach out to newer theatrical venues locally and back home.

Script2Stage proved the perfect venue for my newest play ‘Polly’s Amorous Adventures’ and Sharon helped fill the house for both performances. Stage managing there brought new insights into other plays and their tone and structure. It was like a graduate course in playwriting.

Local writing groups seemed stuck in the past and lost some of their relevancy to me. I moved past their stayed agenda as my own list of projects grew. A new writing routine was becoming solidly in place. The season was rushing by.

After numerous distractions, I found myself with only nine weeks left in the desert. Suddenly there were two new plays to write and three more scripts to tighten up. Preparations had begun for my scheduled play ‘The Last Sentinel’ to be performed in Minnesota in August. There were several prospective venues in the Twin Cities to explore for my past plays.

Then the Coachella Valley for next season was starting to look promising. There would be new shows at the McCullum, new hiking trails to explore, newfound friends, and neighbors who were already talking about next season’s events and gatherings.

It’ll be different next time and yet so much will remain the same. More to see. More to do. More to accomplish. It’ll be watching the constantly shifting sands of time while running out the clock on life in the desert.

Poly as a Play

After meeting my girlfriend from high school (long story) she commented that we had history. ‘Good history,’ she said and she had fond memories of that period in our lives. My second girlfriend from college said that if we couldn’t be friends on Facebook we could be ‘friends in spirit.’ Those were simple one-on-one romantic relationships that ended normally. Then a third special woman came along and that relationship has lasted for more than forty-six years.

Normal relationships, yes. Typical, yes - but not for everyone.

In this modern day world of dating, match-ups, hook-ups, swinging, swapping, switching, one-nighters and a dozen or more complicated variations of romantic liaisons, it turns out that not one type of relationship suits all. In fact, there are probably as many different intimate, sexual, personal relationships as can meet the imagination. One of the most prominent of which is called a polyamorous relationship.

A friend who knew I was a playwright brought this to my attention. Never one to say no to a good story idea I looked it up on Google. It opened up a whole new world of alternate lifestyles…to study, that is... just to study. And the more I did, the more I thought my friend was on to something. There had to be a good storyline someplace under the bedsheets here.

A polyamorous relationship is defined as a romantic relationship with more than one person. What distinguishes it from a classic love triangle is that all the partners know about each other and are accepting of those other relationships. It can pertain to men or women or a combination of both.

One form is called polyfidelity which means there is a committed relationship between the people and they are sexually faithful to one another. There can be three or more people in such a relationship.

My curiosity was aroused (sorry for the pun) even further when another friend who works at a medical clinic casually told me about her encounters with swingers. It seems there is a group of swingers who go to her clinic once a month for blood tests to make sure they haven’t contacted any STDs. They meet monthly at a local restaurant to check out new couples and arrange encounters.

My friend was impressed by the casual nature as well as honest and open approach this woman took when describing how her group went about exchanging wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and new arrivals. Who knew such exchanges were taking place in my own community? So how to write a play around such a subject matter without showing it disrespect and yet portraying it as an everyday occurrence, which it is…for some people.

Fortunately over the last two summers, I’ve had two of my plays produced here in Minnesota. The Second Act Players, a part of RAAC, the Rosemount Area Arts Council, produced ‘Riot at Sage Corner’ and ‘Club 210.’

Both plays gave me a great opportunity to watch my scripts being acted out by talented cast members. I was also able to sit among the audiences and watch their reactions. There were parts of the script that shined and other parts that could have used more refinement. But most importantly, it gave me as a playwright an entirely new perspective from the audience’s point of view.

This last season I was fortunate enough to stage-manage two plays at a local venue. This venue (Script2Stage2Screen) is located in Rancho Mirage at the Unitarian Church. Each season they present six staged-readings from original works. Stage managing gave me an opportunity to study both plays in greater detail. The two plays, ‘Pass-Over’ and ‘Mitigating Damages,’ were imaginative, thoughtful performances.

To better understand all the variations and emotional dynamics of a polyamorous relationship, I had to do research. But it would have to be the kind that wouldn’t get me into trouble with my spouse. She’s an understanding sort when I do research but she has her boundaries. So I started with Google.

According to a study published in the ‘Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy’ in 2016, 21 percent of people have had a non-monogamous relationship – one in which ‘all partners agree that each other may have romantic and/or sexual relationships with other partners.’

The notion of multiple-partner relationships is as old as the human race itself. But polyamorists trace the foundation of their movement to the utopian Oneida Christian commune of upstate New York, founded in 1848 by Yale theologian John Humphrey Noyes. But it wasn’t until the late-1960s and 1970s ‘free love’ movement that polyamory truly came into vogue when books like ‘Open Marriage’ topped the best seller lists and groups like the North American Swingers Club began experimenting with the concept.

It’s hard for many people to think outside of the fairy-tale notion of ‘the one’ and imagine that it might be possible to actually romantically love more than one person simultaneously. Jealousy is the main culprit and it’s an issue that polyamorists deal with constantly.

Once I discovered this Achilles heel of jealousy I had my theme and the main point of conflict and contention in my storyline. Yeah, it sounded like the groundwork for a new play.

So that’s what I did. I wrote ‘Poly’s Amorous Adventures.’

My play about a polyamorous relationship was going to be a challenge even though I had a good idea of how the storyline (Polly’s dilemma) was going to unfold right from the start. I wanted to grab the audience’s attention, hold on tight and not let it go. But I also wanted to make my characters real, sympathetic in their relationship challenges and honest in their pursuit of this triangle affair.

My main protagonist, Polly, is in a polyamorous relationship or so she thinks she is. The two men involved aren’t so sure and Polly’s girlfriend, Hazel, is certain that she isn’t. Polly’s mother is a toss-up. She could go either way but wants in on the action anyway.

In ‘Poly’s Amorous Adventures’ I’ve tried to be true to the intent of a polyamorous relationship but to also analyze the complexities of multiple relationships where emotions, raw feelings, confusion and jealousy are all a part of the equation. Then to stir up the pot a little more, I’ve added a handyman who is more than that, a girlfriend who can swing both ways, an on-line sex councilor who just can’t stay in her PC and an unconventional shopping list for insane pleasure.

The play was a joy to write. I fell in love with my characters, was surprised by their reactions to events and rational for their relationships. ‘Poly’s Amorous Adventures’ turned out to be a rollicking, twisted, sometimes torturous pathway through human emotions and ever-elusive true love.

It’s hard enough being in a one-on-one relationship with another person whether it’s a past girlfriend from high school or college or that someone special that you’ve been with forever. Relationships are challenging enough without love and romance blushing up the waters with their complex currents of swirling emotions. Now add to that one-on-one slow dance with yet another person or two and it’s bound to get just a little bit crazy.

And a lot of fun to write about too.