Tinfoil Haberdashery Dramatizes Conspiracy Theories at PACA

Thursday, March 17

It's a story actually ripped from the headlines: In June 2014, Las Vegas police officers Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck were gunned down by assailants. The gunmen's battle cry? "The revolution is happening."

The husband and wife behind the shooting – which spread to a nearby Walmart – were Jerard and Amanda Miller, Tea Party members who had also joined in on the Bundy Ranch standoff earlier that year. The shooting caused a social media firestorm, fueling the flames of anti-government conspiracy theories.

It's those conspiracy theories (did the shooting happen, or was it a "false flag" planted by the "liberal media"?) that serve as inspiration for Tinfoil Haberdashery, a darkly comedic play from Erie's own Ernest Hemmings, which will be staged at the Performing Artist Collective Alliance (PACA) this weekend and next.

The work is engaging, provocative, and hostile (not unlike the polarized, vitriolic and somewhat violent world of Twitter and Facebook). But honestly, when it comes to the dark political hell of Internet trolls … sometimes it's better to laugh than cry. – Sara Toth

8 p.m. March 17-19, 24-26// PACA, 1505 State St. 2nd Floor// Tickets $10