LEAVING SAN JACINTO Premieres at The Country Playhouse, 2/28

The Country Playhouse, together with the Houston Masonic Library and Museum Foundation, will present the new play Leaving SAN JACINTO by Diana Howie, on its Cerwinske main stage for four performances only, February 28 - March 3. Show times are Thursday, February 28, at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., plus a matinee on Sunday, March 3, at 2:00 p.m.

In early May of 1836, the last shots have been fired, but the battle for the soul of Texas has just begun. Aboard the steamboat "Yellow Stone" sits the captured Mexican president, Santa Anna. Defeated at the Battle of SAN JACINTO and taken prisoner only days earlier, Santa Anna, with the blood of Goliad and the Alamo fresh on his hands, has every reason to fear for his life. Sam Houston, badly wounded in battle, knows he may be the only one standing between Santa Anna and an unceremonious execution.

But as the paddle wheels begin to churn, a third man walks the deck and guards the prisoner. Lorenzo de Zavala, once a compatriot of Santa Anna but angered by his claim as dictator, is now fiercely loyal to the Texas cause. Will it be the peaceful journey that Sam needs desperately, or will vengeance have its day?

The cast includes Cameron Cooper as Sam Houston, with Scott McWhirter as Santa Anna and Daniel Perez Vertti as Zavala. Directed by Dianne K. Webb, Leaving SAN JACINTO is the first in a series of new plays sponsored by the Houston Masonic Library and Museum Foundation (http://www.dissys.com/gray329/play.php), to celebrate Texas Independence; and The Lone Star Cowboys will be on hand to perform historical Western music.

Diana Howie, Playwright-in-Residence at The Country Playhouse, has written other historically-based plays, including The Brightest Light (about Hamilton and Burr) and Susanna & Will (about Shakespeare and his daughter), both of which premiered at The Playhouse in recent years.

Tickets for Leaving SAN JACINTO are $28.00, and can be purchased by calling the box office at 713-467-4497, or online at www.countryplayhouse.org (at no additional charge). Groups of 20 or more, $5.00 discount per ticket.

Country Playhouse is located at 12802 Queensbury, Houston 77024 (in Town & Country Village, across from CityCentre), just two blocks east of the Sam Houston Tollway.