Chuck Yates, Artistic Director of Coyote StageWorks, Announces Starry 2016-17 Season at The Annenberg Theatre

Coyote StageWorks, the Coachella Valley-based award-winning Actors' Equity professional theater company, announced its eighth season that will run throughout 2016-2017. Dubbed "Legendary Ladies," the schedule of performances will include the Company's signature one-night-only benefit and productions of two beloved stage plays, all presented at the Annenberg Theater, located inside the Palm Springs Art Museum. The 2016-2017 performances include "Steel Magnolias," "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks," and "The Lady With All the Answers."

"We wanted to honor the influence of women in theater, so this year we selected plays that have strong female leads, creating the Legendary Ladies series," said Chuck Yates, Founding Artistic Director of Coyote StageWorks. "We also wanted to present comedies that have a broad appeal, which our Production Company is known for and does best. We are delighted to once again offer these productions in the Palm Springs Art Museum's Annenberg Theater."

Coyote StageWorks will start the season with its annual benefit gala of a staged reading of "Steel Magnolias," by playwright Robert Harling. The comedy/drama features an all-female cast and poignantly portrays the bond a group of Southern women in northwest Louisiana share and how they cope with the death of one of their own. The Coyote StageWorks production will feature Florence Henderson, Sally Struthers, and Mo Gaffney in the lead roles. Henderson is best known for her role of Mrs. Brady on the popular TV series "The Brady Bunch." Struthers is best known for her role of Gloria Stivic on the long-running "All in the Family" television series. Mo Gaffney has appeared in a wide array of television, film, and Theater Productions, including the "Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives." She recently appeared in the Coyote StageWorks production of "Love, Loss and What I Wore." "Steel Magnolias" was made into a blockbuster film in 1989 that starred Daryl Hannah, Dolly Parton, Sally Field, Julia Roberts and Olympia Dukakis. Tickets for the benefit are $75 and $125 per person for performance only; a $250 per person ticket includes VIP cast reception in the museum following the performance. Performers are subject to change without notice.

The first full production of the Coyote StageWorks season will be "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" by playwright, screenplay writer, novelist, producer, and actor Richard Alfieri. Running from January 27 through February 5, the play will star Loretta Swit (best known for her role of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on the beloved show television show "M*A*S*H") and actor and Coyote StageWorks Founding Board and Company Member David Engel, a six-time winner of the Ovation Awards given out by the Los Angeles Stage Alliance.

The 2016-2017 season concludes with a performance of "The Lady With All the Answers" by writer, playwright, actor and producer David Rambo. Running April 14 - 23, 2017, this folksy, funny, and straightforward one-woman play is about life and work of "Eppie" Lederer, better known to the world as Ann Landers. The performance will star renowned actress Gloria Loring, of "Days of Our Lives" fame and who recently blew away audiences in the Coyote StageWorks production of "Love, Loss and What I Wore." In "The Lady With All the Answers," Loring will portray the popular advice columnist as she struggles to complete her latest installment while dealing with a new kind of heartbreak: her own. The Chicago Tribune calls the play "... warmhearted...highly entertaining, and frequently moving..." and the Los Angeles Times describes it as "...engaging from beginning to end."

Tickets for Coyote StageWorks' productions in 2017 are $45 - $55 for matinees and $50 - $60 for evening performances. A Q&A session with cast members will follow Thursday matinees. To purchase individual tickets or subscriptions, call 760-325-4490 or visit annenbergtheater.org. For group sales, call 760-318-0024.

Voted "Best Live Theater" by the readers of Desert Magazine in 2013 and 2014, Coyote StageWorks has won 65 Desert Star Awards from the Desert Theatre League, a theater support group that promotes theater in the Coachella Valley and Morongo Basin. The company received 3 awards for its performances of Art and Agnes of God in the previous season. The Desert Theater League also bestowed the coveted 'Michael Grossman Most Inspirational Award' to Chuck Yates, Founding Artistic Director of Coyote StageWorks, in recognition of his dedication to the craft of theater production.

The 2016-2017 Coyote StageWorks season is generously sponsored by Annette Bloch and David Lee. Earlier this year, David Lee also issued a $30,000 challenge grant that doubled any donation the company received through Labor Day.

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. For more information about Coyote StageWorks, please visit coyotestageworks.org.

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