DINNER WITH FRIENDS to Open 2019/2020 Season at CV Rep Theater

CVRep Serves-Up Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies

A Deliciously Witty, Insightful, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play that Explores the Complexities of Marriage and Friendship to Open 2019/2020 Season at CV Rep

November 6 - November 24, 2019

The Coachella Valley Repertory (CVRep) has
announced it will open its upcoming 2019-20 season with Donald Margulies' 2000 Pulitzer
Prize-winning play, Dinner with Friends. This touching, perceptive and witty play examines the complexities of marriage and friendship; the foibles of spousal relationships that come with age and the changes that redefine and impact relationships.

A perfect choice for CVRep's 2019/20 season theme of "New Beginnings", Dinner with Friends tells the story of Gabe and Karen, a happily married, middle-aged couple, living in Connecticut. They have been friends with Tom and Beth, another married couple, for many years. As both couples struggle with questions of loyalty, individuality, and commitment in this delectable, sharply observed drama, the ultimate question is posed - If Gabe and Karen didn't really know Beth and Tom as well as they assumed...do they really know each other? The willingness or unwillingness to engage in this re-evaluation is the heart and spirit of the play.

"Donald Margulies is truly masterful at using humor and pathos to depict the complexities of spousal relationships, and I am confident that Dinner with Friends will stimulate many significant discussions between couples after seeing it," says CVRep Artistic Director, Ron Celona.

In addition to the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Dinner with Friends won the 2000 Outer Critics Circle Award; the 2000 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play and the 1999 American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.
"...Margulies writes about relationships with such intelligence and spiky humor that his comedy-drama...becomes something quite wonderful." - Time Magazine
Dinner with Friends was adapted into a 2001 HBO TV movie starring Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Greg Kinnear, and Toni Collette. The movie was directed by Norman Jewison with the screenplay by Margulies. Directed by Darin Anthony and starring Corryn Cummins as Beth, Scott Golden as Gabe, Jennifer Sorenson as Karen and Chris Wallinger as Tom, the CVRep production of Dinner with Friends will run from November 6 to November 24, 2019 at the new CVRep Playhouse located at 68510 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City, CA 92234. Performances are scheduled for Tues, Wed. Thur. Fri and Sat at 7:30PM, Sat and Sun at 2:00PM.

Individual tickets are $58.00 / Previews $48.00 / Opening Night $68.00 (includes post
show reception). Subscriptions (all 4-plays or 3-plays) are also on sale. For more
information, please call 760-296-2966 or visit the website at cvrep.org.

COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY is a non-profit, professional regional theatre, that
proudly has Small Professional Theatre (SPT) status with Actor's Equity.
CVREP MISSION STATEMENT: Coachella Valley Repertory is an educational and
dramatic theater organization that presents innovative productions and children's
outreach programs designed to enrich the quality of life for Coachella Valley residents
and visitors. For more information, call 760-296-2966 or visit www.cvrep.org

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BIOGRAPHIES

Jennifer Sorenson's past theatre includes Oppenheimer and Still Life at Rogue Machine Theatre, Church & State at The Skylight Theatre, Marisol at AOA Harold Clurman Lab, The Car Plays at South Coast Repertory, Fifth of July and How I Learned to Drive both at The Production Company, Tongue of a Bird, The Fried Meat Trilogy & Blue Jay Singing in the Dead of Night at Pacific Resident Theatre. She wrote and played ten roles in the award winning, viral parody Orphan is the New Orange which traveled around comic cons and film festivals all over the world!

Scott Golden is thrilled to perform in his first production at CVRep. He has appeared on stage in Los Angeles in Absolutely Filthy (The Deceased), Candide (Candide), The Behavior of Broadus (Stevens) and most recently as Matt in Mr. Burns; a post-electric play in which he was nominated for an Ovation Award. Scott produced the critically acclaimed Resa Fantastisk Mystick and Too Heavy for Your Pocket for Sacred Fools Theater Company in Los Angeles which he has been a member of for six years. Scott studied theatre at Florida State University and can be seen or heard in many TV shows and commercials. Learn more at seescottgolden.com

Corryn Cummins is a Chicago born, Los Angeles based actor, director and producer. L.A. stage credits include Una in the West Coast Premiere of David Harrower's Blackbird (L.A. Weekly Award) and Lilly in World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's Need to Know (Stage Raw nomination) both at Rogue Machine, where she is company member, Alice in the World Premiere of The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll at Boston Court, Dee in the World Premiere of Lord of the Underworld's Home for Unwed Mothers at Skylight (Stage Raw nomination) and Dottie in the West Coast Premiere of Tracy Letts' Killer Joe (Ovation Award). Also: The Blank, Greenway Court, Sacred Fools, The Odyssey, Padua and Ojai Playwrights Conference. Chicago Credits include Clarisse in Fahrenheit 451 at Steppenwolf, The Girl in The Hot l Baltimore at Mary-Arrchie (Jeff Award) helmed by Tony Award winning director David Cromer, Studs Terkel's Race at Lookingglass (Jeff nomination) adapted and directed by David Schwimmer. Also: A Red Orchid, Timeline, Famous Door and Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Corryn is a graduate of the School of Theatre at Illinois State University. She also works in film and television.

Chris Wallinger began his career as a company member of the Organic Theater Company in Chicago. Upon moving to the West Coast, he began working with Theatricum Botanicum where he portrayed the roles of Bassanio (The Merchant of Venice), Coriolanus (Coriolanus) and Theseus (A Midsummer Night's Dream), etc. He has done dozens of national commercials and television roles including Barry (HBO), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX), New Girl (FOX), etc. Christopher studied at Moscow Art Theatre, Interlochen Arts Academy, Stella Adler (NY), and others. He has a BFA from Northern Illinois University. He can be seen in the upcoming seasons of L Word: Generation Q (Showtime), The Affair (Showtime), The Morning Show (AppleTV), For All Mankind (AppleTV), and Gone Hollywood (FX). He would like to thank his beautiful wife and daughter for their constant love and support.

Darin Anthony is the Artistic Director of Moving Arts in Los Angeles, a company dedicated to the development, production and promotion of adventurous new works by Los Angeles artists. For Moving Arts he directed: world premieres of Apple Season, BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!), Apocalypse Play by Cory Hinkle, the west coast premieres of The Kill-or-Dies by Meghan Brown, Viral by Mac Rogers and The Gun Show by Em Lewis. Other recent productions: the world premiere of the rhythm and blues musical The Devil You Know for Devilish Productions and Nureyev's Eyes at American Stages (FL) and The Bluebarn Theatre (NE). Other productions include: New York premieres of The Good Boy at the Abington Theatre and The Incident Report at The Lion Theatre. Regional credits: premieres for La Jolla Playhouse, Unbound Productions, Bootleg Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Radar LA, Odyssey Theatre, The Road, The Open Fist, Moving Arts Car Plays, The Blank Theatre, Syzygy, InterACT, Furious Theatre. Academically, he has directed at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Theatre of Arts and Miami University of Ohio.Darin's film directing debut, Hitting the Cycle, was awarded Best Feature Film by The Manhattan Film Festival. He also directed and developed the web series Before we go to Sleep with Steve Serpas. His productions have received many awards and nominations including The Ovation Award, The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, The LA Weekly Awards, Stage Scene LA and The Backstage Garland Awards. He would like to thank his family who make this all possible.