Art inside, outside playhouse

PALMDALE — The artistry that takes place inside the Palmdale Playhouse is now reflected on its outside, with the debut of a massive mural to tell its story. Part of the City of Palmdale’s public art program, the mural, titled “The Curtain Calls,” was presented to the public and city officials on Thursday. “It’s great to see art growing and expanding in Palmdale,” Mayor Austin Bishop said.

“Art is a huge component of what I think makes the world go ’round,” City Manager Ronda Perez said. “It brings out the good and the happy in people.” Artists Joshua Lawyer and MJ Lindo-Lawyer, of Santa Rosa-based Rough Edge Collective, have created the mural, assisted in the painting by Monty Guy.



They were selected from 64 applications for the project. “Your first thought when you see it is, ‘Wow!,’ ” Councilmember Eric Ohlsen said. Lawyer designed the mural, working with George Davis, Palmdale’s public art program manager, and the city’s Public Art Commission, to outline the themes it should convey.

Based on a community survey conducted in 2023, the themes include reflecting the history and impact of the Palmdale Playhouse and the community’s diversity. The 152-foot mural wraps around the curved exterior of the playhouse, readily visible from 10th Street East. It is carefully designed to tell the story of artistic creation that takes place within the playhouse walls.

Lawyer conceived of the design as a play, with an opening first act, the tension of Act II, a climatic Act III and the quiet as the performance is over. Reading from right to left along the wall, the story begins with children dressed as characters from “The Wizard of Oz” peeking out from behind a stage curtain, as if to view the audience before the show starts. In the background is the Emerald City, complete with the historic depiction of the playhouse’s original form.

The children are an entry point into the world of theater and represent the playhouse’s youth theater programs, Lawyer said. The journey of the characters in Oz also represents the start of a journey about the playhouse. Act II is a scene from “Treasure Island,” with older actors depicting pirates’ captives and providing the dramatic tension, as well as showing performers’ development, he said.

The climatic performance represented in the third act switches from acting to other performances, with a jazz singer belting a song into a microphone. “They’re creating this very big moment,” Lawyer said. The singer is immediately followed by a vibrant collection of flowers, representative of the bouquets presented to performers following a show.

This section also represents the audiences who have been part of the decades of performances at the playhouse. “We wanted to jam-pack this with common stories they tell in this space,” Lawyer said. The final section of the mural depicts the quiet after a performance, with scenes of backstage storage areas full of props representing various shows held in the theater: Sherlock Holmes’ hat and cape, Don Quixote’s lance, the plant from “Little Shop of Horrors.

” This section also represents the playhouse staff, “the people that keep this place moving,” Lawyer said. The entire story is framed by red stage curtains at either end. “I believe this is a great representation of what the playhouse does,” Mayor Pro Tem Richard Loa said.

The mural was nearly completed in time for the public dedication on Thursday, with only a few final touches remaining, especially to the final panels. While the actual painting began Dec. 2, the planning and design process took months before that, Lawyer said.

The project has already received positive feedback from community members, many of whom stopped to praise it while the artists were at work. “It’s been pretty nonstop feedback from all walks of life,” Lawyer said, with everyone from seniors from the Legacy Commons Senior Center across the street to children on scooters visiting their work. Public art projects like this mural are helping to build pride in the community, as well as deterring graffiti, Ohlsen said.

“We want to continue to bring that pride,” he said..