The Rep’s Yankee Tavern

Steven Dietz’s Yankee Tavern feels like a sitcom at the outset, with amusing banter between clueless groom-to-be Adam and prospective bride Janet. She’s so flustered that he won’t take the wedding seriously. Hmpf! He simply made up a guest list of phony relatives! Can you imagine?!

As it turns out, Yankee Tavern isn’t Cheers. This is New York in 2006. The 9/11 pall hangs over the city. The Yankee’s one barfly, Ray, expounds endlessly on his conspiracy theories.

Adam, who inherited the bar in a condemned building, is also a graduate student in international relations. His thesis is on the corrosive effect of conspiracy theories. Adam sometimes rises to Ray’s bait. The two spar, in a friendly way at first and then with more rancor. The plot thickens when a stranger, Palmer, shows up with disturbing first-hand knowledge of 9/11 that could  have a personal impact on Adam — who might not be what he seems.

I won’t give up any more than that, as the play turns on surprising Michael Moore-style Awful Truths and on disquieting revelations about characters we at first take as stereotypes: the assertive, lovable hottie; the level-headed leading man; the colorful drunk; the eccentric newcomer who buys drinks for an imaginary pal.

Brian Vaughn and Marti Gobel hit all the right notes as the lead couple. They are utterly charming in the sort of witty combat between smart lovers we’ve seen forever on screens large and small. Gobel jabs, Vaughn feints, ducks and counters wryly. Their tone and timing are impeccable. As the play goes on, though, Gobel senses that her mate is withholding something. Is she paranoid, or is he elusive on certain subjects and about a certain relationship? The subtle crumbling of the couple’s apparently solid ground is the most compelling aspect of the play and of director Sean Graney’s staging.

Torrey Hanson, as Palmer, seems more plot device than person. Palmer might be a nut, or he might be a former G-man embittered by cover-ups among higher-ups. He is a man of perhaps too few words, and Hanson was left to wield them as blunt instruments.

Will Zahrn, as Ray, has torrents, oceans words.  He’s the kind of guy who calls radio talk shows and  stays  on as long as he can. In the bar, where no one has a mute button, he goes on and on and on.

Ray is a familiar type: The annoying but lovable guy. Such a person is unpleasant in real life but can be funny on stage or screen. The comedy lies in watching him drive everyone on stage nuts while we laugh from a safe distance.

Zahrn vaulted over that distance. He could have played Ray as obsessed with his ideas and focused intimately on the two friends willing to listen. Instead, he made Ray a big, theatrical show-off. The scale of his work spewed annoyance beyond Adam and Janet and into the Powerhouse Theater.

That might have been a conscious strategy. Dietz, after all, built the play on the idea of disturbing everything we think we know about these sorts of characters and situations, not to mention everything we think we know about 9/11. Yankee Tavern is not supposed to be comfortable.

I don’t know if this would indicate success or failure of the role and the play, but I can report with certainty that Ray annoyed me.

Yankee Tavern, which premiered  in Florida in May, will run at The Rep through Jan. 31. Tickets are $10-$60; visit  the company’s website or call 414-224-9490.