A Desert Theater Built by Nature

A Desert Theater Built

As the car plies, the Desert Theater is 174 miles east of Phoenix, 75 miles east of Globe, and about 18 miles west of Safford on U. S. High way 180. It is here that the Gila Junior College with the co-opera tion of certain other schools and indi viduals of the Gila Valley will present the seventh Annual Red Knolls Pageant "Conquistadores," under the direction of Prof. Wm. C. Kauffman, head of the department of dramatics of the college. Extending for many miles north of the foothills of historic Mt. Graham to a point almost due east of Mt. Turn bull is a series of alluvial butts termin ating in the beautiful Red Knolls. On the eastern face of the north end Na ture has carved a unique theater; stages off-stage recesses, auditorium, and al most perfect acoustic properties. Sand stone ribbed and rock capped, this clay escarpment rises in two great steps to a height of two hundred feet above the floor of the auditorium.

Great vertical columns have been cut by dripping water through many decades of rainy seasons, exposing tiny wafers of sandstone strata which protect the layers of clay from further erosion. A great cap of limestone and volcanic ash, varying from one to three feet in thickness, projects several inches at the top to preserve the whole. In some places this cap is bare and shows large crevices enlarged here and there into a punch bowl or crater caused by the cap having given way, allowing the wa ter to seek subterranean outlets. In many instances these cavities reach the very bottom of the knolls where one or more cavernous passages lead the water to the outside.

Even the most casual observer, as he climbs the Red Knolls, does not fail to recognize semblances of great architec ture: ramparts, towers, tabernacles, thrones, and citadels, together with in imitable carvings and etchings in bronze and buff.

Evidences of an early occupation are numerous on both levels of the knolls. Bits of broken pottery representing at least two different early cultures, arrowheads, manos and matates are still in evidence. Foundations of common pit houses attest to a much earlier occu pation than that of the Apache.

From the earliest times these heights were undoubtedly prized as an impreg nable, though temporary fortress. They also served as an excellent point for observation and signalling, commanding a view of two important military posts of Civil War times-Camp Goodwin and Camp Thomas. Camp Goodwin was oc cupied during the summer of 1864 by detachments from the California Col umn, viz. Co. I of the First Cavalry, Co. D. of the First Infantry, and Co. A of the Fifth Infantry.

At a time when the hostile Apaches had been confined to the San Carlos Reservation early settlers of Smithville, now Pima, and other nearby settle ments, found the knolls as accessible quarry for the fallen capstone, from which they built the famous caliche houses, a few of which are still stand ing, one less than a mile from the Desert Theater. Still later, when cowboys were sometimes a menace to the peace of village life, the coves and bays in the irregular contour of the knolls served as excellent corrals for holding and branding cattle.

By Nature Red Knolls To Be Scene of Pageant Telling Story of the Spanish Conquest

In the spring of 1928, with the presentation of the delightful Indian operetta, "Lelawalla," the historic Desert Theater was dedicated to a higher and nobler purpose: drama and pageantry. The "Pirates of Penzance," staged in 1929, also capitalized the natural features of the theater. With the production of "The House of Rimmon," in 1930, a definite trend toward religious drama was started. "Joan of Arc," 1931, continued the religious theme and excelled in overt action and costumes. "The Prodigal Son," 1932, and "The Prince of Egypt," 1933, were both biblical dramas with an almost identical theme. The 1934 production, "Conquistadores," to be staged on the evening of May 11, carries a religious theme in the persons of the padres who long for the coming of the missions and presidios, but for the most part treats in a romantic way the Spanish Conquest.

Prof. Kauffman, who collaborated with Prof. Clark in adapting the pageant-play from the latter's novel, "Conquistadores," is a graduate of the Conquistadors, with martial music playing, take their leave.

In the five scenes that follow the conquistadores are in Apacheria, in the New World, on the trail of the renegade army. Beset with the ever-present fear of the Apaches and annoyed not a little by the discomforts of the strange life the new army contends with the old. Kidnapping, wife-stealing, bloodmingling, and torture are among the minor themes of the play. Brown robed friars lend dignity to the piece and furnish the religious motivation. A love triangle is completed when Pedro Diaz, the commandante, falls in love with Consuelo, the Viceroy's daughter, only to find that she has a lover in the person of the young scout, Ramon, who has conducted the new army through the wilderness of Apacheria.

The problem of "who gets the beautiful senorita?" is solved in the fiesta scene which follows the final battle in which the renegades are put down and the flag of Spain planted in the wilderness of Apacheria. The fiesta is made colorful and gay with a Spanish orchestra in costume, sprightly dancers, and a motley crowd of citizens.

School of Speech of the University of Southern California. While a graduate student at the university he made a special study of all important outdoor plays and pageants given in California. He also gained valuable experience working under the late Garnet Holme, United States pageantry director, in California's greatest outdoor play, "Ramona," which is produced each year in the Ramona Bowl, south of Hemet, in the shadow of Mt. San Jacinto. Mr. Kauffman also played roles in the Desert Play, "Tahpuitz," at Palm Springs, and "Verna of the Pine Woods," at Idyllwild.

The pageant-play, "Conquistadores," written in a prologue and six scenes or episodes, ranges from comedy to tragedy and has a strong love interest. The main, overt action takes place between a legitimate army of the King of Spain and the defamed army which has renounced its allegiance to the same king. The prologue, which has its setting in late sixteenth century Spain in a patio of the kings palace, opens with excited conversation among the ladies of the court who are trying to get from the queen the name of the new comandante. The mounted soldiers arrive in shining armor and a commissioning ceremony follows, after which the con-