Kim Rubinstein (Guys and Dolls, Private Lives, The Santaland Diaries) directs the work slated to open Jan. 17 at the company's C. Newton Schenck Mainstage in New Haven, CT, for a run through Feb. 4.

"When John returns home with his latest play, based on the lives of his family, the martinis begin to flow, his mother gets sauced, his sister breaks down and the roast burns to a crisp!" reads a show description. "The civilized cocktail hour quickly whirls into a lively family feud."

Peil (Nine, "Dawson's Creek") and Cunningham (Amour, Company, 1776) are joined in the cast by Rob Campbell (Aphrodisiac - Long Wharf) and Ann Talman (Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Huntington Theatre Co.). 

Gurney has seen his recent works Post Mortem, Indian Blood, Strictly Academic, Big Bill, O Jerusalem, Mrs. Farnsworth and Screen Play play Off-Broadway, and the world premiere of his Crazy Mary debuts next at Playwrights Horizons.

The scribe known for Sylvia and Love Letters has also penned Scenes from American Life, Children, The Dining Room, The Middle Ages, Sweet Sue, The Perfect Party, Another Antigone, The Cocktail Hour, The Old Boy, The Fourth Wall, Later Life, A Cheever Evening, Overtime, Let's Do It (a Cole Porter musical), Labor Day, Far East, Ancestral Voices, Strictly Academic and Buffalo Gal. The season at Long Wharf continues with the Dale Wasserman-Joe Darion-Mitch Leigh musical Man of La Mancha (Feb. 21-March 18), an as-yet untitled David Cale (Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky) and Dael Orlandersmith (Yellowman) musical (March 28-April 29) and Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (May 9-June 3) .

Following the Jan. 28 (2 PM) matinee performance of the Long Wharf Theatre presentation of The Cocktail Hour, the playwright will appear at a free discussion.

Tickets to The Cocktail Hour at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive in New Haven, CT, are available by calling (203) 787-4282 or by visiting the theatre's website at www.longwharf.org.