Premiering December 20, 2025, under Parker’s company House of Parker Productions, Miles of Grace transforms a traditional night of theatre into a living act of compassion.
On opening night, audience members who bring donations of food, baby formula, or toys will receive reduced admission, with all proceeds and collected items benefiting Maggie’s Place, The Foster Alliance, and CASA – organizations supporting families and foster children across Arizona.
Sometimes a story finds you before you’re ready to tell it. That’s what happened to Desiree Parker, a young playwright and director from Phoenix, Arizona, whose newest production, Miles of Grace, asks one simple question: What if a play could feed a family?
“This project was born from heartbreak,” Parker said. “I think a lot of us have felt it lately – that heaviness watching the world grow more divided, more cruel, more disconnected. I felt it in my chest every time I turned on the news, every time I saw another mother struggling just to feed her child. It broke something in me. I couldn’t shake the question – how can I write about grace if I’m not living it? So I stopped trying to escape the ache and decided to build something from it – a story that gives back.”
The play follows a homeless boy searching for belonging and a woman trapped in domestic abuse, two lives colliding in an unexpected act of kindness that changes them both. But beyond the story, Miles of Grace itself is designed as what Parker calls philanthropic performance – a model where art doesn’t just represent empathy; it enacts it.
“I’ve always believed theatre could be more than an evening’s escape,” Parker said. “It can be a shelter, a meal, a reminder that we’re still capable of showing up for each other.”
By weaving generosity into its structure, Miles of Grace reimagines what community theatre can mean – turning performance into participation, and story into service.
The production premieres Saturday, December 20, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona.