Award Winning Coyote Stageworks Plays Host For THE COCKTAIL HOUR At The Annenberg Theatre

Coyote StageWorks, the Coachella Valley- based award-winning Actors' Equity professional theater company will conclude its 2018 theatrical season with a production of "The Cocktail Hour," a straight-up comedy about a family on the rocks. The play will star Lee Bryant, Jeffrey Jones, Chuck Yates, and Yo Younger, and will be directed by David Youse. "The Cocktail Hour" is a witty and perceptive play by A.R. Gurney that tells the story of a playwright who returns to his family home in 1970's upstate New York, bringing with him a new play, which he has written about his family. He wants to obtain their permission to proceed with production, but his very proper and wealthy parents are cautious and his sister is upset about how minor her role is in the play.

Their confrontation takes place during the ritual of the cocktail hour, and as the martinis flow, so do the recriminations and revelations, both funny and poignant. In the end it is evident that the manuscript is closer to the truth than his family has been willing to admit, and that beneath their WASP reserve his family members share the same uncertainties and frustrations as their presumed "inferiors."

"The Cocktail Hour" was the winner of the Lucille Lortel Award as Best Off-Broadway Play. The New York Post said "It makes for a deliciously funny and also occasionally touching evening, as Gurney's family sits around raking over old coals and settling old scores with a quite new and beguiling freshness."

The play will star Lee Bryant (Ann) Jeffrey Jones (Bradley) Chuck Yates (John) and Yo Younger (Nina). It will be directed by David Youse. The 2018 Coyote StageWorks season is generously sponsored by David Lee and Annette Bloch. Earlier this year, David Lee also issued a $30,000 challenge grant that doubled any donation the company received. The production is sponsored through the generosity of Donna MacMillan.

Voted "Best Live Theater" by the readers of Desert Magazine in 2013 and 2014, Coyote StageWorks has won 73 Desert Star Awards from the Desert Theatre League, a theater support group that promotes theater in the Coachella Valley and Morongo Basin. It recently won 8 awards for its performances of "Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks."

About Coyote StageWorks
Coyote StageWorks is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 company dedicated to advancing theatre as a vital art form in the desert communities of the Coachella Valley. It is their mission to provide a forum for thought-provoking, entertaining, and culturally significant works in an environment that nurtures the creativity of the individual and the enrichment of the community. These shows are not Palm Springs Art Museum or Annenberg Theater presentations.

The Cocktail Hour will run March 23 - April 1, 2018 with nine performances at the Annenberg Theater in the Palm Springs Art Museum. Performances run at 7:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. depending on the day. A Q&A session with cast members will follow the Thursday matinees. Tickets are $45 - $55 for matinees and $50 - $60 for evening performances. To purchase individual tickets or subscriptions, call 760-325-4490 or visit annenbergtheater.org. For group sales, call 760-318-0024.

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