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Marta Becket's

AMARGOSA OPERA HOUSE

A masterpiece in the desert.

PLEASE NOTE, THE OFFICIAL SITE FOR MARTA BECKET

WWW.AMARGOSAOPERAHOUSE.COM

"King and Queen"

Marta Becket is a talented Dancer Painter and musician. For over thirty years she has operated the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction, California. This is her story.

Marta was born in Greenwich Village, New York City. At the tender age of 3 she developed a burning desire to dance, act and paint. Three obsessions that would never leave her.

As a young child she studied music, painting and dance, even performing ballet for her fellow High School students. In her Twenty's, Marta would go on to work as a professional model and ballet dancer, working in Broadway Musicals, New York City's Radio City Music Hall, in addition to many Ballet and theatrical tours.

One of these tours took Marta away from New York. In 1967 she embarked on a 21 concert tour, taking her own production out west. On a break from this tour, Marta and her husband visited Death Valley National Park in their newly acquired camping trailer. After several days of camping at Furnace Creek they awoke one morning to a flat tire. A Park Ranger informed them that the best place to repair their flat tire was the service station in Death Valley Junction, 30 miles East on Highway 190.

While her husband took care of the repair at the Service Station, Marta was free to explore Death Valley Junction. Crossing the street she was drawn to a large structure that was then known as the Amargosa Hotel. Walking the length of the Colonnade, she grew ever more curious. At the end of her walk Marta found herself at the largest part of the building. Looking for a way to see inside, she walked around to the back of the building. Peering through a hole in the door, a shaft of light pointed to a small stage-it was a Theatre, "As I peered 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".

Marta ran back and told her husband of her discovery. Soon they where both looking through the door, the hole in the roof offering just enough light to illuminate the abandoned Theatre. Without a word to each other, they both new that they had found their new home.

Both Marta and her husband had become tired and disillusioned with New York, so breaking the ties would not be difficult. The next day, they contacted the building's manager and a deal was made, $45.00 a month and the Theatre was theirs. After returning to New York to conclude their affairs, they finally settled in Death Valley Junction in August of 1967. Six months of clean up and rehabilitation meant that she was finally able to open the doors to the public on February 10th 1968, dancing to the music of Strauss, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, for an audience of Death Valley Junction residents. From that night on the doors to the Amargosa Opera House have opened at 7.45pm, and performances started promptly at 8.15pm. Unlike the packed-in audience's of today, not all performances back in the late sixty's where standing room only, in fact there where nights when few if any people attended at all. One day, while cleaning up after a terrible flash flood, Marta looked at the blank white walls and exclaimed " I am going to paint an audience on the walls of this Theatre". In spite of the fact that few believed that Marta would undertake such an endeavor, work started on the back wall with a mural depicting a 16th century Spanish audience. Once the back wall was finished, Marta turned her attention to the side walls, adding to the cast of characters. In total, Marta spent six years of her life working on the Mural.

With help from the Trust for Public Lands, the Amargosa Opera House Inc was able to purchase the town of Death Valley Junction and on December 10th 1981, both the Town and the Amargosa Opera House where listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 1983 would bring a welcome addition to Marta's life and to the life of the Amargosa Opera House, Mr. Tom Willett took over the role of stage manager and M.C. after Marta's Husband moved away. Tom's sense of humor and ease with the audience made an impression on Marta and it was not long before he joined her on stage, adding his comedic talent to Marta's classical Performances.

Amargosa Hotel.

The building now known as the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, was built in 1924 by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, to house the employee's of it's mining operation and to offer accommodation in it's Hotel rooms to those travelers disembarking the Tonopah and Tidewater railroad in Death Valley Junction. The Opera House itself was called Corkhill Hall and was used for Church services, Weddings and general assembly.

Marta Becket took over the operation of the Hotel in 1991.

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