A Play in Two Acts
by Kevin Kautzman
1F / 2M
© 2010
COYOTE premiered in Dallas, Texas at Nouveau 47 under the artistic direction of Tom Parr on January 26th, 2012 in the Margo Jones Theatre. Donny Covington directed, with set design by William Anderson, projection by Stephanie Busing, stage management from Melissa Hennessy, and the following cast:
ANNA……. Marti Etheridge
LUKE……. Stephen Witcowicz
VINCE ….. Art Peden
Reviews
Kautzman… hurls metaphor, alliteration and theatrical convention into a universe inhabited by the likes of Sam Shepard, John Milton and James Joyce with defiant abandon… My vote for the best written play currently on stage in this region, bar none.
– Alexandra Bonifield, CriticalRant.com
… a seat-gripper of a play… with the dark comedy of a Coen brothers film and just enough unexpected violence to make you flinch and giggle… a terrific evening of theater, full of big laughs (both at and with the characters) and deliciously tense turnarounds.
– Elaine Liner, Dallas Observer
Though this is the first full production of Kautzman’s play, it won’t be the last. There’s a compelling combination of the sort of male soul-searching found in Sam Shepard’s works and the gritty noir tension of early Coen Brother’s films like Blood Simple.
– David Novinski, Theatre Jones
Synopsis
Night. Arizona, on the border between Mexico and the United States of America. When a young man joins a lone minuteman on weekly patrol, words fly and a game of questions begins over who represents the “real America” and who decides where the line in the sand is drawn. COYOTE is an award-winning play that casts light on one of the darkest corners of recent history: the uncertain line between the United States and its neighbor to the south.
Development & History
> COYOTE was written with the support of a 2009-10 Jerome Fellowship from the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis.
>COYOTE received its first staged reading in April of 2011, directed by Phil Mann, at the UK National Student Drama Festival in Scarborough.
> COYOTE received its first staged reading in the US in May of 2011 in Nouveau 47’s New Works/New Voices Festival at the Margo Jones Theatre in Dallas, Texas, directed by Diana Gonzalez.
> COYOTE received a reading in November of 2011 at Stony Brook University at the Tabler Center, directed by Cate Cammerata.
Awards & Recognition
> 2011 International Student Playscript Competition (Winner)
> 2011 Repertory Theatre Iowa: Alpha Project, Playwright-In-Residence (Winner)
> 2011 John Gassner New Play Competition (Finalist)
> 2011 Lark Playwrights Week (Finalist)
AV
[1] Nouveau 47 COYOTE Trailer
