It happened one night.

Steven Dietz, one of America’s most produced playwrights, was watching late night television and stumbled on a show about conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

That’s all it took before Dietz was off and running with a story chock full of mystery, thrills, laughs and, yes, the fine art of the conspiracy theory, with his 2009 play “Yankee Tavern.”

The play is the premiere production of South Whidbey’s newest theater company, Outcast Productions, and opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 17 at the Fine Arts Building at the Island County Fairgrounds in Langley.

Set in the crumbling confines of a New York tavern, a young couple finds themselves caught up in what might be the biggest conspiracy theory of all. It begins when a stranger walks into a bar and orders two beers; one for himself and one for his absent buddy.

Adam tends the ramshackle New York bar he inherited from his father, while writing a master’s thesis about (what else?) 9/11 conspiracy theories. His fiancé Janet suspects Adam is shying away from their upcoming wedding and is concealing something from her. Ray, a friend of Adam’s dead father, is ostensibly an eccentric who hangs out at the bar spouting conspiracy theories about everything imaginable, but particularly about the attacks.

The mysterious two-beer stranger is on a quest and claims to have inside information about the attacks, which subsequently serves to hang the young couple’s relationship on tender hooks.

In an instant, outlandish hypotheses become dangerous realities as surprising revelations continue to emerge in this eye-opening look at the United States government and the theories behind the events that have shaped this country, and Ray apparently does a good job of making it all seem quite plausible. Dietz covers everything on the conspiratorial front from the wedding industry and moon landings to assassinations and allergy medications.

Dietz said of his play, “The fits and starts that comprise our daily life can — with a bottle of beer and an attentive bartender — attain a certain rough-hewn majesty in the telling.”

It’s a mind-bending work that sends home the disturbing reality that, indeed, what you don’t know can hurt you.

“This play brings a number of things to forefront,” said director Kathryn “Sandy” O’Brien.

Namely, that conspiracy theories can be good or bad for any number of reasons. But the point, O’Brien said, is to think about it.

“What we’re trying to do is to bring stories out,” she said.

Indeed, Outcast Productions emerged from the tenacity of theater artists O’Brien, who is the producing director of the nonprofit company, and Ned Farley, the artistic director, with a mission to produce good theater with a social conscience. The goal is to entertain audiences with productions that provoke a dialogue; plays that spark a conversation about anything that gives rise to one’s emotions — politics, human rights or the human heart.

The third member of the company is Margot Jerome, officially the public relations person, but better known as the “cruise director.” The title appeals to O’Brien because it speaks to the adventure of creating a theater company, one that is not wholly formed and one for which the world holds any myriad of possibilities. It’s a Homeric-like image of cruising the open seas on a seminal theatrical journey.

“We have a small nucleus of people to build from and the idea is to keep building the pool,” O’Brien said.

“Well, it’s our first show, so we’ve had to build platforms and flats, buy lights, everything; but it’s the beginning and we’re still in that thinking stage about what we want to be,” she said.

There’s a host of details involved in building a theater company and even what to sell at concessions is a choice that needs to be made at some point. But it is the artistic work that comes first for these partners.

“It’s a work in progress,” Farley added.

“And, with the goal of reaching our mission, we ask ourselves, ‘How can we best do that?’ We want to make theater that makes people think; that makes people talk,” he said.

Although the company leans toward contemporary scripts, if an older script has the capacity to spark a conversation that is pertinent to today’s world, they’ll look at it. Looking forward already, the company has chosen and partially cast “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” for its next project, opening at the fairgrounds building in September.

“Ideally, we want to start building a core of people who know how it works; to build on something,” O’Brien said.

The idea that theater is essentially a collaborative art form is an important notion to both O’Brien and Farley, and building something together that fosters collaboration rather than a hierarchy appeals to them both. A big challenge, O’Brien said, but not an impossible one.

The fairgrounds building works for now, but ultimately Outcast would like to settle into an intimate, black-box space they could call their own.

“We want our audiences to feel connected, and a small, more intimate place would work for us,” Farley said.

“A place we could call home,” O’Brien added.

“Yankee Tavern” features Gabe Harshman, Ed Cornachio, Rachael Grove and Farley. It plays for two weekends June 17, 18, 19 and June 24, 25, 26. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets cost $16 for adults and $12 for students and seniors and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or with cash or check at the door. The Fine Arts Building is at 819 Camano Ave. in Langley.

Information about Outcast Productions is at www.outcastproductions.net.