Photo by Larry Mohr
Red Herring (2026) - Third Avenue PlayWorks
The cast of Third Avenue PlayWorks' 'Red Herring' (2026).
It is 70 miles from Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s hometown of Grand Chute to Sturgeon Bay, and we are decades removed from his reckless allegations of communism which drove America’s Red Scare.
Leave it to Sturgeon Bay’s Third Avenue PlayWorks to pick the hottest day of the year to preview a spoof of Cold War-era intrigue in Boston.
Michael Hollinger’s play Red Herring mixes mistaken identities and foreign intrigue in a quickly paced comedy that draws as much from history as it does from classic detective stories, with three couples weaving in and out of the story.
Couples, Two Acts
The young lovers (Ellie Duffey as Lynne McCarthy and Ethan Serpan as James Appel) have a secret. In fact, several—as military loyalty clashes with McCarthy’s father’s crusade. Duffy’s frazzled, manic reading of situations keeps the storyline teetering.
The G-Man and the hardboiled detective (Seth K. Hale as Frank Keller and Alicia Rice as Maggie Pelletier) mix their personal life with gumshoeing and want desperately to get to the bottom of the case they have both been working on, with Pelletier placing the final piece in the puzzle and clearing her past.
The third couple (Carolyn Hoerdemann as Mrs. Kravits and Noah Simon as Andrei Borchevsky) have secrets of their own. Borchevsky—variously a Russian immigrant and a mute mistaken for a mime, has left his wife in the old country and has taken up with Kravits. Hoerdemann’s wry one-liners steal scenes and Simon’s wordless displays of physical comedy (existential charades?) set the audience roaring with laughter.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Fans of classic detective stories (novels, radio plays, Hollywood films), the rapid-fire dialogue of vintage screwball comedies or the television series “Moonlighting” will appreciate the wordplay. Anyone who enjoys the slapstick of “I Love Lucy” and storylines of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will enjoy the sendup.
The spartan stage splits duty as a wharf, an apartment complete with a Murphy bed and a madcap church confessional. The short scenes separated by brief blackouts left theatergoers wondering how a two hour production could fly by so fast.
Red Herring runs through August 9. More info here: thirdavenueplayworks.org
