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SHOWS and BIOS 2026
​​​​​Veronica Alcantara hails from Washington, DC where she grew up performing in high school theater productions of Romeo & Juliet, The Merry Wives of Winsor and other works of Shakespeare. She carried this love of theater into her college career at the University of the District of Columbia where she served as stage manager and assistant to Fine Arts professor Lenny White. The productions she worked on include The Wiz and Annie. Veronica also performed in UDC’s production of For Colored Girls (Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enough) as Lady in Blue. In the intervening years, despite being away from the stage, she carried her passion for performance with her to Twentynine Palms where she reconnected with local theater

SMASH - Short Play by Stacy Davies
A black woman and a white woman in conversation 
Saturday 3pm, Theatre 29 and Sunday 3:30pm Theatre
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​Hera Anderson is a trans/non-binary actor, writer, and performer based in Los Angeles. She works primarily in dark comedy, exploring identity, resilience, and the lived experiences of the transgender community through humor grounded in emotional truth. Hera’s solo work often uses minimal staging and direct audience address to challenge stereotypes while inviting empathy, laughter, and reflection. EMPTY is written and performed by Anderson as part of her ongoing artistic exploration of visibility, survival, and self definition in contemporary society.

EMPTY - One Person Play
EMPTY is a one-act solo play following Eliza, a trans woman determined to break into Hollywood, who films a YouTube house-tour vlog inside her completely empty home. The only object left is a director’s chair. As the vlog unfolds, Eliza humorously and painfully recounts how each missing object disappeared through financial struggle, rejection, heartbreak, discrimination, and loss tied to her identity as a trans woman.  What begins as comedy gradually reveals deeper emotional layers, exposing the systemic barriers Eliza faces in the entertainment industry and society at large. Through sharp humor, physical performance, and direct audience engagement, EMPTY explores belonging, self-worth, and the cost of pursuing dreams in a world that refuses to fully see you. The play concludes with resilience and determination, reclaiming emptiness as a space of possibility rather than defeat
Saturday 7pm, Acme5 Lifestyle (Outside)
Sunday 4pm, Theatre 29
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Zoe Blaq is a poet, artist, and urban gardener based in the Mojave Desert, with roots in both Los Angeles and Germany. She is dedicated to fostering community, championing the arts, and uplifting marginalized voices.


Spoken Word
Friday, 7pm, The Glass Outhouse Art Gallery
Saturday, 10:30am, 29 Palms Farmer’s Market
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Melanie Blue and the Pop up Players
Melanie Blue is a teacher, director and facilitator of improv. She has created a community of improvisers in the desert that practice both long and short form improv. Spreading joy and laughter and theatricality on their journey. Melanie believes the tenets of improv make better humans and her mission is to share that with all who desire it 

Pop-up Players 
The “Pop- up Players” is a merry brand of improvisers that create improvised shows on the spot. No two shows are ever the same. 
They might be long or short form or a mix of both ! One things for sure- they will bring laughter and heart and authenticity everywhere they Pop-up!

Saturday 2pm, Theatre 29 (Workshop)
Saturday 4pm, Theatre 29 (Pop-up Players Performance)
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Billbob Brown was professor & director of Dance at UMass Amherst, & a former Chair of Dance at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. 
He was the founding director of Desert Dance Theatre, Arizona’s oldest dance company, now in its 47th year; he’s the director of Chaos Theory Dance, has been the Director of Arts for All Dance Company, & is currently creating works for Tucson’s Funhouse Movement Theater. 
He’s choreographed TV commercials for the Chicago Cubs, Molson Canadian Beer, and KTVK in Phoenix, several of which received Addy awards; he choreographed a nationally televised mass for Pope John Paul II. His PBS special, “Opening Doors,” about working with people with disabilities, received an Emmy Award. He’s taught and performed in Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mexico, Scotland, England, and Switzerland, among other places around the world. 

Space Cowboy III: El Final Frontier
In "Space Cowboy III: El Final Frontier," Billybob Beaujoix helps audiences get comfortable with the idea of making that final border crossing into the unknown, with the help of a little Folklórico, Flamenco, tap, soft shoe, Irish, and Latin steps, and a few bad jokes.
Saturday 3:45pm, Theatre 29
Sunday 7:30pm, Acme 5 Lifestyle (Outside)
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​Paul Coates is  an actor, writer and director with over 50 years of professional experience.  His many plays have been produced in New York (Off Broadway), Los Angeles and throughout the US. He wrote and produced the films, My Secretary and Alone Time.  His most recent work, Boy In A Box, was developed in the Playwright Development unit at The Actors’ Studio, of which he is a member.

Thomas Zoeschg is a director from Northen Italy where he got hooked on Italian Neorealism early on.  His studies took him all over Europe before settling in Los Angeles.  He directed several award winning short films and his feature film debut, Every Night &Every Day, is now streaming on most platforms.  Boy In A Box is the culmination of his studies and efforts on the Absurdist Theater world and so takes up a special place.

Boy In A Box - One Person Performance
Originally conceived during the COVID-19 epidemic, BOY IN A BOX is, at its core, about race. Recent administrations have unleashed racism in this country as a “norm,” to be accepted, even nurtured. Is it possible it could get even worse? Are we only seeing a glimpse of how bad it could get if the “boy” is let out of the box? Racism, America’s original sin, is alive and well. The boy stands for the atrocities against indigenous people, the onslaught of slavery and crimes against those less fortunate – the people that formed the very fabric of our great country.  
Saturday 7:30pm, Acme 5 Lifestyle (Inside)
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​Abe Daniels, has been working in the high desert Theatre community for almost 20 years. He is an award winning director, producer actor and recipient of the Bill Kuhlamn award for excellence behind the scenes. He studied under Salome Jens of the Actors Studio and truly enjoys helping those with the craft.  He is also the builder and caretaker of Windwalkers Medicine Wheel.

Native American Storytelling
Saturday 6:15pm, The Glass Outhouse Art Gallery

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Hyla Etame
Hyla Etame is a poet and writer from Southern California. She earned her Bachelor's in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Kent, Canterbury, England in 2025. Her poetry has been published in Inlandia Journal, Blue Marble Review, Lines & Breaks, and The Lindenwood Review. In the summer of 2025, the London-based Star Nhà Ease Film Festival commissioned her to write a poem in response to a film in their program. She was the winner of the Navy Pen Lit Mag “Poetry In Response to Tragedy” contest. Her poetic voice is often described as honest, intimate, and reflective. Dreaming, walking, and journaling are vital aspects of her creative routine. Learn more about Hyla on her website hylaetame.com and explore more of her writing on her Substack publication Pondering.

Spoken Word
Friday 7:20 pm, The Glass Outhouse
Saturday 10:30 am, 29 Palms Farmer’s Market
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​Sharianne Greer has been recently seen in Theatre 29 productions of Sleepy Hollow and A Streetcar Named Desire and Marjorie Prime.

The Transgressor - A short play
about the relationship between a man and a woman.
Saturday 3pm, Theatre 29
Sunday 3:30pm, Theatre 29

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​T Hammidi (they/them) is a Lebanese-American writer, performer, painter, & interdisciplinary artist from Joshua Tree, Ca. Their work celebrates queer/trans lives, performance, and the Mohave desert. Hammidi received a 2025 PAAC grant for "Desert Fashion Party," and a 2023 California Humanities Quick Grant for their LGBTQIA Queer Desert Archive, oral history project. 


Homo 101: Crash Course
A wrinkled, tired professor, unable to find work at the local community college, gives their last queer theory crash course to a live audience. Get ready for the ride! Part comedy, part "drunken history" interactive-style crash course on the emergence of LGBTQIA civil rights and communities in the U.S. to present day! Featured is fashion commentary and queer hi-desert lore. Party noise makers and feather boas to the first 20 attendees!
Saturday 6:30pm, Acme 5 Lifestyle
Sunday 2:45pm, Theatre 29
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Elle Indigo sings and composes moving pop/indie/r&b ballads and up-tempo songs about mental health, heartbreak, love, and life; writing songs for those who feel too hard, fall too soon, and carry five million thoughts buzzing through their minds—for the beautiful souls who often feel a little out of place, who stand on the outside looking in. Her music speaks to those trying to return to their full selves, to break free from people-pleasing and over-giving. Through her lyrics and voice, she invites listeners to come be seen.


Can’t Stop Myself - Music Performance
Join Elle Indigo, with her accompanist and co-composer - Krystofer Do, for an intimate acoustic session where she bares her soul through song - sharing her original songs from her upcoming album "Can't Stop Myself" reflecting on heartbreak, love, mental health, and the desire to be heard.
Saturday 11:15am, 29 Palms Farmer’s Market
Sunday, 2pm, Theatre 29
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Lisa Mednick Powell, MA, Dramaturge and Music Director, is a musician, songwriter and poet residing Twentynine Palms, California. She is part of the band "Arroyo Rogers," which plays country hits from the 60s and 70s, as well as original material. As a keyboard player she has worked on stages and in studios from New York to New Orleans, from Austin to Auckland. In addition to her musical career, Mednick Powell is a published writer with works appearing in the Hi-Desert publication Cholla Needles as well as the New Orleans Review.


original songs
part of “Stories in Song”
Saturday 5:30pm, Acme 5 Lifestyle
Sunday 1pm, Theatre 29

AND

K’ vetchchella
Friday 8:15 pm, The Glass Outhouse Art Gallery
Saturday 11:55am, 29;Palms Farmer’s Market
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​Mary Beth Pape is an actor, writer, producer, and director.Her theatrical work includes stage, commercial, film, new media, and television. Mary Beth has received two Geoffrey awards at the Morgan-Wixson Theater for her role in Steel Magnolias and Pippin. She directed The Hundred Dresses, A Little Princess and Many Moons for The YES Theatre Company, and was awarded the Outstanding New Children's Theatre Company title from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education in 2008. She is currently the writer, producer, director, and actor in her New Media series, Mrs. Gary which can be found on YouTube.  Mary Beth Pape is a New York native. You can take the girl away from the Yankees but you can't take the Yankees away from the girl. She currently resides in Los Angeles.


Mrs. Gary - Digital Series 2 b2b episodes
Mrs. GARY is an irreverent, comedic YouTube web series that follows the ups and downs of a woman whose life has taken an unexpected turn. Once living comfortably, Mrs. GARY now finds herself navigating life after her husband Gary’s new job as a knife sharpener upends their previous lifestyle. The series blends humor and slice-of-life storytelling as she copes with “riches to rags” circumstances, wrestling with the gap between her past expectations and her current reality while poking fun at the absurdities of everyday life. Episodes often spotlight quirky situations, over-the-top scenarios, and Mrs. GARY’s unfiltered reactions to her changing world.


Saturday 9pm, Acme Lifestyle 5
Sunday 9pm, Acme Lifestyle 5
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​Betty Saavedra 
Sound
Healer • Energy Worker • Ancestral Guide

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Betty Saavedra carries the mountain, water, and ancestral energies of her Muisca lineage. Since childhood, she felt a natural sensitivity to sound, intuition, and the healing presence of nature. Weekend visits to the hot springs with her father, saunas, steam rooms, and mud baths  awakened her early connection to ritual cleansing, water medicine, and the wisdom of the Earth.


The Sound Fairy
Step into a healing space guided by centuries of ancestral wisdom, pure intuition, and the gentle power of sound. Betty weaves together sacred instruments, chakra balancing, aura clearing, and heartfelt intention to help release stress, soothe the nervous system, and realign your energy. Her sessions offer more than relaxation, they open the door to emotional clarity, spiritual grounding, and deep inner renewal. Whether you seek healing, peace, or connection to your highest self, The Sound Fairy creates a safe, nurturing, and transformative experience made just for you. 

Sunday 11:30am, Theatre 29
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​Kurt Schauppner
Kurt Schauppner is a storyteller. He has edited The Desert Trail newspaper for more than a quarter of a century. His latest work of fiction, "The Trick of Singularity," will likely be published by Cholla Needles Press in time for this year's festival


Songs For the Teacart
Songs and Stories about his Parents
part of “Stories in Song”
Saturday 5:30pm, Acme 5 Lifestyle
Sunday 1pm, Theatre 29
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Lee Scott
Atlanta, GA Lee Scott came to Los Angeles to attend CalArts where he received his MFA in composition, studying composition and electronic music with Morton Subotnik. He recently retired from his career as a composer and music editor for films and TV after 28 years. His credits include The Thin Red Line and Moulin Rouge!.He currently lives in the Joshua Tree area of California where he operates Giant Rock Studios and performs live Electronic Indian music.


Electronic Indian Music
Friday 8:00pm The Glass Outhouse Art Gallery
Saturday10:00pm Acme 5 Lifestyle
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​Lauren Wolpert creator of "Barking Up The Wrong Geek" and creator of “Bad Ass Angel Oracle Decks”, "Life is a Pre-existing condition and God is Killing Us All" and "I Thought I Was A People Person…then I met people". Presently, and pleasantly planted in Wonder Valley, this will be their second appearance with Desert Fringe, The first one being, "What Came First," 


Who Sh*t the Hamster Wheel - solo performance
Saturday1:00 pm, Theatre 29
Sunday 6:45 Acme 5 Lifestyle 

And

SMASH - Short Play by Stacy Davies
A black woman and a white woman in conversation 
Saturday 3pm, Theatre 29
Sunday 3:30pm Theatre 29


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  • Home
  • 2026 SHOWS and BIOS
  • SWAG
  • 2026 FRINGE IMAGES
  • Sponsor and Donor Levels
    • Past Fringes >
      • About
    • Volunteers
    • FAQs