The North Plan

Upintheair Theatre presents The North Plan, Jason Wells’ riotous and eerily relevant dark comedy making its Canadian Premiere in Vancouver!

After a ruthless faction seizes power in Washington, Carlton Berg, a bureaucrat for the State Department, runs off with the new regime’s top secret enemies list. Unfortunately for Carlton, the chase has come to an end in a police station in the Ozarks town of Lodus. As Department of Homeland Security agents close in, he must convince an unwilling set of confidants—an unsympathetic police chief, a law-abiding administration assistant, and fellow prisoner Tanya Shepke, a motor-mouthed recidivist who’s turned herself in for drunk driving and thinks Skynyrd should be on the new money — of his plans to expose the new regime. Inspired by real-life US government initiatives—the Readiness Exercise 1984, and Main Core—the premise of play is unnervingly plausible and highly apt in light of Bill C-51, Edward Snowden’s revelations, and Chicago’s Homan Square detainment scandal. The North Plan is a suspenseful, unsettling, and often hilarious portrayal of what happens when democratic order has been upended. The production is staged in a site-installed space in Vancouver’s Chinatown open to the public for the first time. The revolution starts now.

What critics are saying:

“The North Plan mixes paranoia and farce!” – Kathleen Oliver, The Georgia Straight

“The antics of the players and the twists in the plot keep the audience laughing out loud.” – Christian Steckler, Review Vancouver

“I can’t remember laughing so hard and being so unsettled at the same time – in equal measure.” – Jo Ledingham, On the Scene

“The North Plan is well written, acted and directed. I honestly haven’t had this much fun at show in a long time.” – Christina Pontikis, Vancouver Weekly

“This play is on a slow burn that sparks in the first half, but really ignites in the second.” – Chelsey Stuyt, Vancouver Presents!

northplan-poster