Uptown Players continues its 2014 season with the regional premiere of the Nicky Silver comedy, The Lyons.

The Lyons is a dark family comedy about a New York City clan with nothing but bitterness and damage to bind them. The play opens in the hospital room where the Lyons family patriarch, Ben, will soon be expiring from cancer. The end has been coming for months, but Ben and his wife Rita haven’t told their adult kids, partly because they didn’t want to burden them and partly because they’re emotionally stunted and as self-absorbed as your average Kardashian.

Lisa, a single mom and a bit of a daddy’s girl with a history of relationship drama, gets to absorb the blow first, because their son Curtis, a gay writer who is full of dark secrets, is running late, per usual. Rita, whose briskly efficient manner masks a deep-seated, implacable hatred for the man she’s been yoked to for 40 years, will deliver the news between criticisms of Lisa’s wardrobe and inquiries about the right look for the living room she intends to redecorate as soon as Ben has kicked it.