The epigraph of Steven Dietz’ play “Yankee Tavern” is taken from John Kennedy Toole’s seminal novel “A Confederacy of Dunces.” It reads: “Once a person was asked to step into this brutal century, anything could happen.” Many of us might be able to sympathize with that perspective on our current circumstances. If you’ll allow me to paraphrase: “In this day and age, expect the unexpected.”
“Yankee Tavern” has been one of my favorite productions to direct so far, mainly because of the unexpectedness of the in-depth conversations that crop up during rehearsal. I’ll give you a recurring example: we’ve just been rehearsing a scene, at the end of which, an actor with a furrowed brow asks, “Wait … exactly WHAT did we just theorize, here?” You see, the play deals mainly with conspiracy theory, and our ability as individuals to take two (or more) items that seem obviously disconnected, and be able to bridge the two concepts. But, not just in a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” way, with loose connection based on coincidence. Rather, conspiracy theory demands that the two concepts are attracted with such strong and malicious magnetism that the connection of the two concepts implies a legitimate and decidedly credible connection.
In the end, as an audience member, you can expect that “Yankee Tavern” is an examination of the crossroads where concrete and inexplicable circumstances collide, and how we as individuals interpret the fusion.
So, why do some of these theories seem so credible to us? Well, as a civilization, isn’t this something that we’ve been doing for centuries: trying to legitimize the world around us? We are a people that seem to demand explanation. Often, when observable phenomena seem to be wholly incredible to us, despite being absolutely crystal clear through observation, we want to suggest that there could be something be easier to believe. For example, many who have worked in the theatre are familiar with the superstition that every theater has a ghost (or several). Even as we’ve been rehearsing the last few weeks, the Carriage House makes odd “bumps in the night.” Now, we know that, on a scientific level, the temperature fluctuates in the building making the wood in the building expand and contract, resulting in these strange sounds. Yet, we still blame it on the ghosts. In a way, it’s an easier method to explain strange phenomena: the path of least resistance, and easiest connection to complicity. “The ghosts did it.”
For years, I’ve been wanting to utilize fear and/or suspense on the stage as a tool to pull the audience even further into the story. As I’ve mentioned in previous installments, I consider the theatre to be a place that exercises otherwise sedentary emotions, and I don’t think I’d be too bold to suggest that suspense or fear are emotions that the general population will have reason to sense on a daily basis. In “Yankee Tavern,” (and I’m not giving any spoilers here), the suspense is drawn from an unsuspecting “innocent bystander’s” unforeseen connection to complicit actions. The play is centered around a civilian perspective of the aftermath of 9/11, and all of the loose ends that seemed to crop up. The play’s central “innocent bystander,” Janet (played with gusto by Jennifer Reed) is - for lack of a better term - assaulted by a deluge of conspiratorial suggestions of complicity from the remaining three members of the cast. The script demands that it is her function to synthesize all this complicit data, determining her own connection to it all, or defending the lack thereof. I also don’t think I’d be too bold to suggest that we, as “innocent bystanders” might be able to sympathize with Janet on a daily basis: we balance and justify the unexpected, no matter how unbelievable it may sound.
“Yankee Tavern” will run at the Carriage House Theater April 29, 30, May 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 @ 7:30pm. There will also be two Sunday matinees at 2p on May 1, and May 8. Tickets will be available soon at the WYO Theater Box Office, or at www.wyotheater.com.
I’ll see you at intermission!
