If you live in Arizona, you’ve heard the stories about the pioneers who packed their wagons and headed west during the 1800s, but how much is myth and how much is reality? Two familiar faces in Sedona showbiz, Shondra Jepperson and Dev Ross, asked themselves that very same question when the duo decided to write a twowoman show – something they had wanted to do for the better part of a decade. The result is Hot Flashes on the Trail, which will be performed at the Old Town Center for the Arts in Cottonwood on March 29, 30 and 31, just in time for Women’s History Month.
Without giving away too much of the plot, the play is a show within a show. It transitions from a musical-mishap-mayhem comedy to a historical depiction of Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane, which means you’ll have plenty of laughs and learn something all in the same night. Dev wrote the script while Shondra composed the music. Dev and Shondra co-produced the show with Lori Mabery, owner of Cottonwood’s Blazin’ M Ranch, where the show made its debut in 2017. (It has since gone through several rewrites.) Dev, who is an Emmy-award winner for her writing with Disney, says most audiences leave with a new appreciation for two historical figures they assumed they already knew. Shondra says the experiences of the women are analogous to women’s experiences today.
“These are two different women making a living in a man’s world,” says Shondra, an alumnus of the Juilliard School of Drama. “One of them is making millions of dollars while the other develops an alter ego to garner fame for herself just so she can survive. Audiences find out that most of what they know about these two is false.”
Dev, Shondra and Lori, who call themselves the Power Girls, are working on procuring a publishing deal for Hot Flashes on the Trail. They’ve already received offers to tour the show in Oklahoma and Texas, so see it in the Verde Valley while you can.
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