Milwaukee Rep’s ‘Yankee Tavern’ Talks Conspiracies, 9/11

“America is aconspiracy by definition. A little thing called the American Revolution was aconspiracy,” wrote comedian and actor Richard Belzer in his 1999 book, UFOs, JFK, and Elvis. The fact that itwould take a comedian to write a rational book on alleged conspiracies says alot about people in this country who eagerly dismiss conspiracy theories ascrazy and paranoid. Playwright Steven Dietz's controversial 2007 comic drama Yankee Tavern also has much to say onthe topic of conspiracy theoriesparticularly those surrounding the events ofSept. 11, 2001. The Milwaukee Rep bringsthe show to the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater in a production that opens Jan. 5,2010.

The play has received awide range of reviews in productions elsewhere in the country. A Florida criticpanned the show for failing to provide alternatives to the theories presentedas reality in the play, while a Washington, D.C., critic praised it, suggestingthat the story could raise important questions about 9/11. Dietz must haveknown that his comedy about a 9/11 conspiracy would stir controversy, but hismain intention appears to have been to tell a good, solid thriller about realpeople caught up in an extraordinarily dark situation.

The Milwaukee Repproduction casts charismatic Rep Resident Actor Brian Vaughn as Adam, a gradstudent who owns a run-down bar in New York. Will Zahrn plays his friend, a barflyconspiracy theorist named Ray. The skeptical Adam quickly finds himself lost invery real danger, and his fiancée, Janet (Marti Gobel), must work to save him.

The really interestingcasting choice for this production is that of Torrey Hanson as the mysteriousstranger named Palmer. A man with a charming, approachable presence bothonstage and off, Hanson isn't the type of guy one would expect to land the roleof a grim, threatening stranger. Hanson has an opportunity to give a veryunique, nuanced portrayal of a man with a benign fa%uFFFDade covering up a menacing personality.

The cast providesdirector John Langs with all the right elements to deliver a truly engrossingpresentation of Dietz's script.

The Milwaukee Repproduction of Yankee Tavern runs Jan.5-31, 2010, at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater.