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After enthralling audiences in Texas and Washington, D.C., the new play Throat arrives at the Southern Theater for its Midwest premiere. Throat tells the story of a U.S. marine who has recently returned from the war-torn streets of Iraq. Now a misplaced civilian, Cesar Rodriguez—who suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder—is alone and unprepared as he encounters a world that’s radically different from the one he left behind. Rodriguez embarks on an introspective journey that leads him through the labyrinthine streets of New York to unlikely sources of solace.

Playwright Mando Alvarado got the idea for Throat after reading a magazine article about a Mexican-American soldier who had returned from Iraq and was suffering from PTSD. Strangely enough, the soldier was from Pharr, Texas, the hometown of Alvarado and director Michael Ray Escamilla—but they didn’t know about the connection when they began working on the play in 2005. All they knew was that the nonstop news coverage of the war in Iraq was missing a crucial perspective—the voices of those who were actually there.

“In south Texas, everybody that we spoke to had a sibling or relative or significant other in Iraq,” says Alvarado. “A lot of them were very proud and glad that their story was being told. I have family members in the military, and I knew I could put a voice to that character.” Unfortunately for the main character, the detritus of war becomes his cross to bear.

Throat’s emotional subject matter transcends political agendas. Escamilla, whose father served in Vietnam, says he made sure not to turn Throat into a personal political platform. The play, he says, is simply the story of an everyman trying to reconstruct his fragmented life.

If, as Alvarado suggests, the throat is a battleground between the heart and the mind, expect to find a catch in yours once or twice throughout this intense evening. March 8–18. 1420 Washington Ave. S., Mpls., 612-340-1725

Reach Jaime Kleiman at jaime@jaimekleiman.com.