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Men on Boats
By Jaclyn Backhaus
Directed by Sara Athans
September 27 – October 6, 2024
Adults $28
65+ $25
18+Under $12
This play takes a fun and creative approach to telling the story of Powell’s Expedition to chart and map large swaths of the Colorado and Green Rivers, including being the first white men to raft through the Grand Canyon. The twist is that all the parts are played by women! This play is funny, quirky, and just a little bit weird!
Auditions: Sunday, 8/4/24, from 12pm – 3pm and Tuesday, 8/6/24, from 6pm – 9pm
Rehearsals: 8/14/24 – 9/26/24
Auditioning at the Aloha Theatre
Only actors who are auditioning for a part will be able to come inside the audition room. Parents and other guests may sit on the lanai or leave the theatre and come back at the end of auditions.
Please review the production calendar and ensure that you are able to make all the performance dates, performance date conflicts will immediately remove you from consideration. Missing a few rehearsal days does not need to be a big deal so long as the director is aware in advance and can plan around absences.
Please fill out the audition form and select your audition time.
A note on casting
The playwright, Jaclyn Backhaus, specifies that the cast should be a “racially diverse group of actors who are female-identifying, trans-identifying, gender-fluid, and/or non-gender conforming.”
Why are the characters male but the actors aren’t?
Great question! First, it’s important to know that the playwright is legally able to specify how they want a show to be cast. That is their right as authors and is specified in the contract that Aloha Theatre signs with the publisher to receive permission to perform any play.
Men on Boats is about how the story of the Powell adventure is told as much as it is about telling the story. Backhaus is making a point about how we learn American history and the faces and bodies we tend to see associated with that history. As they say, history is written by the victors, so if men were able to shape the way this story has been told for the last 150 years then it makes sense to take that story out of the box, dust it off, and see if there’s something more to it. Something that the victors left out.
There are many reasons why a playwright might dictate how a play must be cast. Let’s think about just a couple that are specific to Jaclyn Backhaus and Men on Boats.
1. She is making an intentional choice to reject realism because she wants the audience to be a little removed from the story, she wants a constant reminder on stage that tells the audience, “THIS IS A PLAY!” The impact on the audience should be that they engage with the content of the play, not just watch it. Backhaus wants the audience to leave with something to talk about on the car ride home!
2. She’s making a statement about women in theatre. Throughout history women were not allowed to perform on stage, even in parts that were written as women! Perhaps Jaclyn Backhaus is saying, well if Shakespeare and Sophocles wrote women’s parts for men why can’t I write men’s parts for women?
Roles
John Wesley Powell–one-armed leader of the expedition (40 – 50)
William Dunn–hunter and trapper (35 – 50)
John Colton Sumner–former soldier, current explorer (25 – 40)
Old Shady*–Powell’s older brother, Civil War vet (50+)
Bradley–lieutenant, manic with youth (20’s)
O.G. Howland**–printer and hunter / also plays Tsauwiat, a Ute chief (25 – 40)
Seneca Howland**–O.G.’s quiet little brother / also plays The Bishop, Tsauwiat’s wife (20 – 35)
Frank Goodman–British, so excited / also plays Mr. Asa, a desert settler (35 – 50)
Hall–mapmaker, old soul (20’s)
Hawkins–the cook (25 – 40)
*has to sing one folksy song on stage, the actor playing this part should feel comfortable singing and humming live on stage and will be asked to sing as part of their audition
**these two characters double as Tsauwiat and his wife, Ute tribe members. The playwright specifies that they should be played by Native or non-white actors.
Audition Sides
Side 1 – Dunn, Sumner, Powell.pdf
Side 2 – Hawkins, Hall.pdf
Side 3 – Bradley, Old Shady.pdf
Side 4 – Goodman, Seneca, OG.pdf
Side 5 – Powell monologue.pdf
Side 6 – Goodman fishing.pdf
Side 7 – Old Shady singing.pdf