The Love Bite: An Irreverent Comedy by Luke Yankee

An enhanced stage reading of The Love Bite written by award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and author Luke Yankee. This performance brings satire and comedy to audiences while balancing thought-provoking subjects. The reading begins with an awkward make-out session in a small Irish town and turns into a miracle when a resulting hickey bears a striking resemblance to Jesus Christ himself! The hickey also proves to have a genuine healing effect on anyone who touches it. 

Written for the stage, The Love Bite was produced in Los Angeles at the Skylight Theatre and featured film and TV star, Harry Hamlin (Clash of the Titans, LA LAW, and Mad Men). The production received rave reviews from critics in Southern California.

Palm Springs Art Museum is thrilled to welcome the legendary Joyce Bulifant to the Annenberg Theater for a special performance!

With a career spanning stage, screen, and television, Bulifant’s charm and talent have made her a beloved figure in entertainment. Best known for her role as Marie Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, she has also delighted audiences in the cult comedy classic Airplane!, the Disney musical The Happiest Millionaire, and countless TV appearances, including Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, My Three Sons, Just Shoot Me, and Weird Science.

Under contract with Universal, she starred alongside legends such as Fred Astaire and appeared in Destry, Thriller, and more. A favorite on game shows—especially Match Game—Bulifant’s quick wit and warm presence have solidified her status as a cherished Hollywood personality.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to see Joyce Bulifant live on stage.

VIP Tickets include a one-hour brunch reception before the performance and priority seating at the front of the theater.

The VIP Reception will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., followed by the show starting at 12:00 p.m. Doors will open at 11:45 a.m.

REVIEWS

The Love Bite is a masterpiece that's the equivalent of the great recent Irish plays by Martin McDonagh and Brian Friel. So great and so piercing is its satire that it could easily be termed a contemporary classic on the order of J.M. Synge's Playboy of the Western World of a century ago...the play delivers humor that's ribald and witty while at the same time offering thought-provoking drama...The Love Bite balances thousands of observations about human aspirations and failings on the head of a pin, which in itself is something of a minor miracle!” – Erick Marchese, Backstage

"Like every well-written comedy, The Love Bite hooks the audience in the first five minutes. It introduces feisty, hilarious characters; it is laced with outrageous, audacious dialogue and has a daring, devil-may-care plot that snaps everyone to attention...The Love Bite is guaranteed to be a smash hit at the box office... Luke Yankee has written a solid winner!"– Shirle Gottlieb, Press-Telegram

"Billboards, potato chips, freeway underpasses, tree stumps and pigeon coops are just some of the places Christ's image has appeared, or alleged to appear, in recent years. In Luke Yankee's ticklish comedy, the Savior-sighting takes place in the Emerald Isle city of Sligo and comes by way of a girl as pure as the Virgin mother herself.... Yankee's well-written script nimbly skirts the boundaries between morality play, satire and comedy. Performances are quite good under Yankee's direction."– Lovel Estell III, L.A. Weekly