The Haymarket Theatre likes to mix it up for its mainstage season.

Its latest production is no different.

Local director Robert "Bobby" Bonaventura is staging George M. Cohan's "The Tavern," which begins a three-week run Thursday.

Cohan, best known for his songwriting and musical theater performances, staged the comedy on Broadway in the 1920s and cast himself as the protagonist.

"The Tavern" is about a strange traveler stopping at a roadside colonial American tavern on a dark and stormy night.

The play is an example of absurdist comedy that later became associated with the Marx Brothers and the Monty Python troupe.

Ground Zero sat down with director Bonaventura and asked him about his latest project:

Ground Zero: You don't typically think of George M. Cohan as a playwright. Why is that?

Bonaventura: This is the only straight play he wrote. His great success was musicals, (such as) "Yankee Doodle Dandy." He experimented and wrote this straight play, of course, with a starring role for himself. He didn't consider it a great success because it lasted only a year and a half. He was used to longer runs than that.

GZ: Can a 1920s play still do well with today's audiences and why?

Bonaventura: I think it can. What it is is a spoof of the old-fashioned mystery melodramas. He sends them up. And I think no matter what the age, we like a mystery. ... It's not a knee-slapping comedy, but it has a lot of fun to it. It's fun for the family, and it's also a great show if you're on a date.

GZ: You've directed the play before. Tell us about it.

Bonaventura: (I did it) way back at the South Coast Repertory Theater (in Costa Mesa, Calif.) I can't give a year, but it was back when ... I did it as the last show of their winter season. It was a huge hit and they had to hold it over for a month.

GZ: Who is playing the traveler and why is he a good fit for the role?

Bonaventura: The vagabond is being played by (UNL graduate) Sean McGill. He's just a very good actor. ... He brings a great sense of fun and joy to this role.

GZ: I understand you plan to use an old-fashioned wind machine. Tell us about it.

Bonaventura: I call it the storm orchestra. The play takes place on a lonely road in the dead of night at an old inn, and outside is a raging storm. Instead of recording sound, we use an old-fashioned thunder sheet, a wind machine and a big bass drum. ... It's a lot of fun because it's live sound. None of it is recorded. I think it adds a great deal to have it live. I think people will know it's live.

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.