'Men on Boats' at Croswell Opera House gives new perspective on explorers

ADRIAN — In 1869, geologist John Wesley Powell and nine other men set out on an expedition down the Green and Colorado rivers and into the Grand Canyon. It was an epic trip into an uncharted part of the American West.

And as playwright Jaclyn Backhaus set about turning that story into a play, she thought about the fact that women almost never get to be the heroes in adventures like that. If women even were present on such explorations, their contributions were often lost to history.

The result of that “aha” moment was “Men on Boats,” in which the 10 men on Powell’s expedition are all played by actors who aren’t men.

The play opens at the Croswell Opera House at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25. Additional performances are at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26; 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 3, and Saturday, March 4; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 5.

Tickets are $25 and $30 for adults and $20 for students. To order, go online at croswell.org or call 517-264-7469.

Jen Letherer, the production’s director, said that having a play where all the characters are men, but played by actors who are not, gives the story a change in perspective.

As a youngster, Letherer herself saw that with few exceptions — think Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” canon — adventure stories always featured men.

“I grew up watching movies like ‘Indiana Jones,’ but I had to imagine myself in those roles,” she said.

But by revisiting its historically based tale the way it does, “Men on Boats” makes gender irrelevant.

“It’s not a male story, it’s a human story,” she said.

And actually, she added, John Wesley Powell’s wife may not have been on this trip but did take part in many of his expeditions, a fact which is often overlooked.

“It’s always perceived that it was ‘him and the guys,’ but she was an explorer too,” she said.

In the Croswell’s production, Erin Couch of Jackson plays Powell, with the other explorers played by Megan Clark, Emily Gifford, Ava Hanley, Molly Humphries and Kyler Mattoon, all of Adrian; Jessica Dougherty of Monroe; Taylor Goodin of Petersburg; Michelle Blumenau of Wixom; and Kaitlyn Park of Ypsilanti.

Letherer said she is extremely pleased with the way her cast has taken on this challenging play. The actors did their homework, reading up on Powell’s expedition and the journals kept by the participants, and have delved deeply into how to play these characters.

“Our actors are people who really want to craft these characters,” Letherer said, and right from the first read-through it was clear they had chemistry with each other and would be able to play off each other well.

And they have risen to the task of telling this story, she said. “I’ve had cast members say it’s the most rewarding and challenging thing they’ve ever done.”

Besides the humans in the play, there’s one more character, albeit one that doesn’t show up in the cast list: the Grand Canyon itself.

“It’s a story about the West,” Letherer said, and just as in any classic Western, the scenery itself is its own character. And putting the Grand Canyon into a stage play presents the obvious challenge.

To that end, scenic designer Marty Flake and sound and projection designer Karl Kasischke transformed the Croswell stage into a canyon, with walls that rise the entire height of the proscenium.

“We’ve come as close as possible to having the Grand Canyon on the stage of the Croswell,” Letherer said.

She wasn’t previously familiar with “Men in Boats,” which is a fairly new show, premiering in 2015 in New York. But when the Croswell was deciding on upcoming shows and looking at scripts, as the theater’s production manager she read this play “and I said, ‘this is really cool. I hope we do it.’” And when it made it into this season, she knew she wanted to direct it.

To her, the show not only tells the story of the Powell expedition, with all its challenges and excitement and even a fair share of comic moments, and does so in a unique way, but it also does much more.

“It’s about achieving a victory but then you don’t know what to do with it,” she said. “It’s about gaining something and losing something at the same time. I really think the intention is to make people think, and it will make them recall things in their own lives.

“There are a lot of things for the audience to experience. … I’m really excited for people to see it. There are a lot of people who are doing really great work, not just the actors.

“It’s a play that will make you think, it’ll make you feel, it’ll lead you to do your own internal work. And that’s one of the things I love about theater.”

If you go 

WHAT: “Men on Boats”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25

WHERE: Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian

TICKETS: $25/$30 for adults, $20 for students

HOW TO ORDER: Online at croswell.org or by calling 517-264-7469

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Preview: 'Men on Boats' at Croswell Opera House