Emergent Arts Presents YANKEE TAVERN, Now thru 7/1

Playing now through July 1 at the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron in Ypsilanti, Michigan, is the play "Yankee Tavern" by Steven Dietz, featuring award-winning local actors Larry Rusinsky, Tom Underwood, and David Widmayer, as well as Maggie Tibus. Directed by increasingly sought-after local director Debra Reichard (Ann Arbor Civic's Death of A Salesman, and To Kill A Mockingbird).

A man walks into a bar…..In the soon to be demolished Yankee Tavern, the owner, Adam, is a grad student (thesis on conspiracy theories) whose father died the day after 9/11. His father's best friend Ray is a Teller of Tall Tales, every bar has one, an habituAl Weaver of the most intoxicating of conspiracy theories: JFK; the moon landing; most of all, 9/11. The owner's fiancé Janet spars with both men, almost comically revealing layers of deception all around her. Then a mysterious stranger walks in, revealing inexplicable connections between this young couple's future and shadowy events surrounding the national tragedy. He is a Master Teller of Tales. He tempts us with the ennobling status of secret knowledge, straight from the Master's mouth, plus a little bonus: the thrill of further danger to come. And we listen.

Some conspiracy theories, despite our rational firewall, hold our attention if only for a minute. Was Building 7 the first steel frame skyscraper in history to collapse due to fire? Why did Larry Silverstein take out $3.5 billion in insurance on the Towers only 2 months before 9/11? Does jet fuel burn at a temperature high enough to melt steel?

Yankee Tavern spins a Tale that's hard to resist. The facts are true, but which Tale do they prove?

Shows are at 8 pm Thursday June 28 and Friday June 29, then at 2 pm and 8 pm on Saturday June 30 and at 2pm on Sunday July 1. Tickets at the door are $20 General Admission, $16 Seniors and Students with ID. Make pay-at-the-door reservations by calling (734)985-0875, or buy seats ahead of time by credit card or PayPal account for just $15 all seats at www.emergentarts.com.