"AMARGOSA"

I watched the astonishing documentary Amargosa some time ago when it was streaming on Netflix, It's the story of  dancer and artist Marta Becket who, at the age of 42, abandoned her conventional career to restore a dilapidated theatre in the Death Valley town of Amargosa.  What was (and is) most striking to me is Becket's ability to thrive creatively in an environment of relentless solitude.  She was known to mount performances for which there was no audience, later describing these as rehearsals for audiences to come.  And in the absence of a physical audience, she spent six years painting one: a fantastical depiction of Renaissance-era audience that covers the walls and ceiling of the Amargosa Opera House.  Her contentment with a deeply interior, solitary and self-possessed life is fascinating in the extreme.