Formed in 1999, The Joslyn Players are a company of actors, singers and dancers whose goals are to put on plays, musical revues and book musicals at the Joslyn Senior Center; as well as variety shows for assisted living facilities as part of an outreach program. In its first year it produced one production called Skits-O-Phrenia. In its second year, with the help of grants from the City of Indian Wells, Newman’s Own and El Paseo Bank, it produced the musical review, The All Night Strut! and the play The Cemetery Club. Both productions received critical acclaim and the latter was nominated for several Desert Theatre League Awards and won for Best Female Lead In A Comedy. The All Night Strut extended its run with a second show that sold out the entire weekend.

The next season, with the continued support of the City of Indian Wells, and the support of 1st Bank, they produced a Kander and Ebb musical, 70 Girls 70 and the drama Driving Miss Daisy. Once again they received critical acclaim from both the Desert Sun and The Desert Post Weekly. 70 Girls 70 sold out several performances during its two-week run.

2002-03 was the first five-production theater season, beginning the tradition that the five consist of a comedy, a book musical, a trunk (imported) show, a musical revue and a drama. Over the course of time, what was initially a banquet hall/auditorium has evolved into the Joslyn Center Theatre with the addition of sound and lighting systems, an extended stage, and risers and comfortable chairs for audiences. The 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons generated a number of Desert Theatre League nominations and awards, the most notable of which was Best Overall Production of 03-04 for Joslyn's Production of Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together.

2004-05 and 2005-06 continued what is rapidly becoming a tradition of pleasing audiences, critics, and our local theatre league. Six shows were presented for the first time, The Heat is On being brought back for a one-week run by popular demand, and paving the way for six shows for 2006-07.

The Joslyn Players have created a dramatic and musical theatre organization whose primary goal is to provide a forum for the development and performance of new and revived plays, musical revues and book musicals which are performed predominantly by seniors 55 and older who are both professional and non-professional actors. They are based at the Joslyn Senior Center in Palm Desert and serve the entire Coachella Valley.

On March 23 of 2008, the Joslyn Center Theatre was rededicated and renamed The Arthur Newman Theatre in tribute to long-time Board Member and Joslyn Players supporter Arthur Newman