Memory Lane is a Desert Road | My Theatre Experience

A few years ago my daughter, Nabra, wanted to know more about my life, especially my experiences as a photojournalist. As the years go by my memories of my life have become more and more difficult to remember. Her encouragement motivated me to try and recollect the past.

We would meet periodically. First in Milwaukee where she first lived after graduating from university. Then in Seattle and on our travels to Egypt and Mauritius. We would sit down for a coffee and with a notebook in hand, she would ask questions about my life and experiences. Back in LA, she would follow up with questions and I soon started writing down what I ended up called "Ramblings and Recollections".

As part of my attempt to remember my past, we would take vacations to places I had once lived. I called them Memory Lane trips. Nabra and family accompanied me on trips to Morocco, the Philippines and Laramie, Wyoming.

Then years later with her interviews and my writings, she begin writing a play that she called "Memory Lane is a Desert Road". It is from a recollection where I reminisce about the many times I have been on desert roads for hours and sometimes days and with barren landscapes to look out on, I have often thought about and pondered life .... and memories.

One such trip was when I traveled to Darfur, Sudan to cover the famine and then with no money left needed to make my way back to Cairo, Egypt. I ended up hitching rides to Khartoum and then hung on to a packed train and eventually found some space on top of the train as it made its way through the Nubian Desert to Wadi Halfa and the border with Egypt.

Nabra who has written a number of plays and had a number of them performed in Milwaukee and Seattle including one about her mom and Nubian folkloric stories, submitted her Memory Lane play to Hollywood's Eight Ball Theatre and they selected it to be there main stage play. That's when she informed me that I was the co-author of the play .... and that's when it became personal and not just another one of Nabra's plays |

It was October 2024 when Eight Ball Theatre selected the play to be their main stage production to be performed in April 2025. I was on my way to Egypt via Milwaukee and New York when the first of many zoom meetings took place |

So for the next two months Nabra, in collaboration with the artistic team and particularly Audrey Forman and Sarah Showich - the director for the play, started what ended up to be 13 draft renditions of the play. Near the end when I was back in Southern California, I started to participate and add some input and ideas into tweaking the play.

So about the play. Why I say it became "personal" is that the play is based on my experiences as a photojournalist and my daughter's search to find meaning and direction in my photographs that are stored in boxes in the garage.

Tickets & Events — Eight Ball Theatre

Eight Ball Theatre

Synopsis: Fatima gets lost in history and memory while searching through boxes of photos from her father, Mark’s, career in photojournalism. With her father often away from home covering wars, famines, and global politics, Fatima knows very little about his decades of life-threatening work, so she sorts through boxes of photos and negatives for answers about his life, trying to find a path for her own under the shadow of his legacy. This memory play is an exploration of how global politics influence our personal lives, how the past informs the future, how parents’ lives intersect with their children’s, how history and memory clash, and the search for answers to unknown questions in dusty boxes.

As the date for the play approached and with the play essentially written - there were still draft to go - it was time for what is called "Callbacks". These are zoom auditions for actors to play characters in the play. There were many and I was included in all of them, but decided to check out one for an actor who was auditioning for the part of "Young Mark" - me as a young photojournalist.

As it turned out, though this actor did not get the part, there was an interesting back story and coincidence.

Wylie Orion's father was a staff photographer for the Seattle Times and covered the WTO riots in Seattle. Harley Soltes and the Seattle Times staff were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in spot news for their coverage of the riots. I was also there covering the riots and may or may not have met him or at least been there on the streets covering the story |

Though I wanted to be apart of and experience the theatre world that my daughter loves and has thrived in since middle school, living in Crestline 75 miles from downtown Los Angeles prevented me from being at most of the in-person meetings.

The first one I attended was one of the first gathering of actors and also included a presentation by dramaturg Azad Namazie.

What I came to learn, is how involved a theatre production is and how many people are needed to make it onto the stage. There is a lighting designer, costume designer, sound designer, prop designer, movement director, dramaturg, technical director, stage manager, director, producer. And in the case of Memory Lane, a scenic & projection designer. It was pretty overwhelming for me.

At this sort of rehearsal, get-to-know everyone gathering, Azad was first up with his dramaturg presentation which was pretty amazing. My daughter is a dramaturg, as well as many other roles in the theatre - producer, director, actor, theatre company founder - but I still needed to look up dramaturg on the internet.

"Dramaturgs are experts in the study of plays, musicals, or operas. It is their job to provide the cast and crew with vital knowledge, research, and interpretation about the theatrical work in question so tha they are - in turn - better equipped to do their jobs."

I was so impressed by Azad's powerpoint presentation that I am including all of it |

After this, and I'm not sure what to call it, was a sort of interactive exercise where the director Sarah Showich called on the actors and us to do strange word association games. And then with only the actors and staff -thank God I didn't have to do it - they were given commands to act out on-the-spot scenarios - silently.

The first read through and in-person play development workshop was a few days later |

Nabra was doing weekly draft updates and I was tasked with finding photos to match her script |

And a selection of some of the hundreds of photos, Eight Ball Theatre printed up to be used as props |

As the opening night performance neared, I become more and more nervous. I've read plenty of film scripts and have even written two feature length movies, but theatre scripts are essentially dialogue and I was fearful all the drafts would lose the chaotic and confusing nature of going through unorganized photos.

And then there was the element of flashbacks .... of young and old versions of the characters being present at the same time. And the projection of images. And the timelines that involve decades of photojournalism. And the memory lane trips juxtaposed among the other story lines. And then there was the politics of it which dealt with lots of issues but particularly the Israeli persecution of Palestinians and invasions and destruction of Lebanon. There was drama and serious discussions of covering conflicts and documenting tragedies but also light hearted and comic moments between family and friends. Would it make sense? Would it work?

But three days before opening night, I attended the first tech rehearsal where lighting, projections, sound and coordinating and programming it all would be happening. And it was not reassuring - at least for me. Though I was told this is normal for the first day and it would all come together. I was still concerned.

Before the big night, we got together with some of the cast before seeing the play "Here There Are Blueberries" about what historical photographs reveal about the perpetrators of the Holocaust |

April 4th | Opening night of "Memory Lane is a Desert Road" at the Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood. I am so nervous. Friends and family will be there and so much work and effort come down to this night. It's a small theatre house with 99 seats.

Snaps from the night |

So here is what I wrote in my Daily Log the next day |

"So the opening of Nabra’s play “Memory Lane is a Desert Road” was last night.  It was a sold out performance and I was so nervous (I have been for some time).  It was really too intense and I wonder how people in theatre manage.  All the work, writing, preparations, re-writes, casting, rehearsals, tech rehearsals, props, publicity, and many other things that go into a production come down to opening night.  Humduallah, it was a success.  Lots of audience reaction and standing ovation at the end."

Family friends and colleagues would be coming to the Sunday matinee performance so we decided to go as well. Mona prepared a post-show Egyptian Kosheri meal for the cast, crew and friends.

More snaps from the matinee performance and kosheri chow down |

and one production still | there will be more ....

Another successful performance and sold out once again. Ended up all shows, except one performance, were sold out and because of the demand Eight Ball Theatre threw together a last evening performance on Sunday April 13th |

And again my Daily Log thoughts from the the 6 April matinee performance |

"The big news is that Nabra’s play has received three glowing reviews.  Yesterday, Mona and I attended and some of my photo collegues/friends showed up - Tom Kurtz came all the way from San Diego, Vince Bucci, Gerard Burkhart (and Gigi), David Sprague (and his wife) and Joe Whyte and his girlfriend, Marti.  The show was once again sold out and another standing ovation.   Such a talented and fun crew."

Here is a review by Steven Stanley from Stage Scene LA:

MEMORY LANE IS A DESERT ROAD

A daughter sifts through her war correspondent father’s photos to better understand his life and her own in Nabra Nelson and Michael B. Nelson’s autobiographical gem Memory Lane Is A Desert Road, a…

StageSceneLA

and another glowing review |

MEMORY LANE IS A DESERT ROAD to Play at Eight Ball Theatre

An evocative new memory play about photojournalism and Nubian-American identity will run the first and second weekends of April 2025. Check here for more details.

BroadwayWorld.comEmmy Rice

Eight Ball Theatre presents: World Premiere: MEMORY LANE IS A DESERT ROAD - Review

https://latheatrebites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/DESERTROAD.mp3Photo Credit: Wiley Sutton LA Theatre Bites – Podcast · Eight Ball Theatre presents: World Premiere: MEMORY LANE IS A DESERT ROAD – Review A refreshing and profound meditation on global politics and the ways they shape us as individuals, Memory Lane is a Desert Road tells the story of Fatima, a young half-Nubian American […]

LA Theatre Bites PodcastLA

There was lots of stuff when I did an internet search on Memory Lane is a Desert Road, and this site came up listing some of the plays Nabra has written | and a link to her website | check it out

Nabra Nelson | New Play Exchange

New Play Exchange

And some marketing material on Instagram by Eight Ball Theatre - they are such a talented, energetic and fun crew - "Great people" as my dad would say |

and some more creative postings by Eight Ball Theatre |

Not only did Memory Lane is a Desert Road get great reviews it was also nominated by Stage Scene LA for Best in Southern California Theatre in five categories |

and some production photos |

"Memory Lane is a Desert Road" was one of the most intense and nerve-wracking experiences of my life - and as a photojournalist covering conflicts and high profile world events I've had some intense experiences.

I think my daughter said it best in the program's From the Playwrights notes |

"Through this process, I had the absolute joy of collaborating closely with my dad and c0-playwright, bringing him into my world of theatre as he brought me into this youth. We lived the play in several ways: literally, by going through boxes of his photos for projections; and metaphorically, by learning more about ourselves through these memories and histories.

There's a motto in our family: "Smile, Love, Look at the Picture". As the daughter of a photojournalist, I came up with this phrase shortly after I learned to speak. Six years of working on this piece and I think my three-year-old self may hold the answer to many of the questions I have been exploring through this script.

One of the most urgent questions that has been on my mind lately is: how do we find light in so much darkness? There is a part of my family's motto that we often leave out because it is so poetically strange: "Night of the Sun". I am incline to listen to the wisdom of the past, and so I will let my younger self and this brief Playwright's note: Smile, Love, Look at the Picture. Night of the Sun."

Parting shot |