Ellen Hawley

New Yorker Annette Majoris (nee Annie Minor) longs for her own midday television show. When she finds herself trying to fill the Minnesota (whose natives she often compares to bovines) dead air as a late-night radio talk show hostess, she grasps at any life preserver that can lift her from the depths of Midwestern normalcy. She makes her own preserver when, to get a caller off the line, she semi-jokingly suggests that the Vietnam War was a hoax. Enter Stan Marlin, Libertarian and reluctant radio talk show listener who eagerly fills in the gaps for Majoris, sending her file folders full of unverifiable "facts" and stories about brain-washing culled right from The Manchurian Candidate. The more airtime Majoris gives to this conspiracy theory, the more the advertisers and listeners love her. Soon she's moved to prime time. Driven by Majoris's desire for fame, recognition, and a phone bank permanently lit up like a Christmas tree, the narrative becomes a satire examining the making of a conservative talk show personality and the politicians, business big wigs, and listening public who willingly feed the beast of misinformation.
Fri., June 6, 7:30 p.m., 2008