Ballerina’s mural destroyed when car hits opera house

A man plowed his car into the historic Amargosa Opera House at the eastern edge of Death Valley Sunday morning, destroying a door and a Madame Butterfly mural painted by Marta Becket, the 83-year-old ballerina who still performs there.

The man, identified as 20-year-old Seth Shoeck of Morenci, Ariz., was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Becket was unhappy about the accident but she won't let it delay the opening of her 40th season of performances, scheduled to begin Nov. 3, she said. "I want to keep my dream alive."

But Becket, who is known worldwide for her singing, dancing and story telling, must scale back this year because of intense knee pain. "I've done too many pirouettes," she said.

This season, she'll perform sitting down.

"She sits on stage, sings original songs, talks about her murals," said Dennis Bostwick, the opera house's director of operations and restoration.

Bostwick boarded up the hole left by the accident and has been dealing with Shoeck's insurance company.

Becket painted intricate murals to make an old borax company recreation hall, 75 miles west of Las Vegas, look like an Elizabethan theater.

Pacific Coast Borax Company developed Death Valley Junction in the 1920s to provide housing and office space for its operations in the area.

Becket first fell in love with the place while on a Death Valley vacation in 1967. She performed there for the first time on Feb. 10, 1968.

Thirteen years later, Death Valley Junction was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a site of state-level significance.

Becket continued to perform after her longtime co-star and off-stage partner Thomas Willett died in 2005 at age 77.

Her quirky performances draw thousands of tourists and have earned her write-ups in dozens of newspapers.

"The audiences get bigger the older I get," she said.

"People come from all over the world to see her," said Tami Tripp-Massie, executive director of the Amargosa Conservancy. "She's a tourist attraction."

Becket plans to perform at 8:15 p.m. each Saturday evening through mid May.

She said she'll repaint the mural.

As for the young man who drove into the opera house, Becket said: "The world has a lot more dumb kids now than it did when I was a kid."