LEGACY LEFT: ‘Men on Boats’ is a humorous recount of history

This past Friday evening, during the "Sucker’s Sun" season here in the Port City, I found myself shoulder-shuffling around the bustling lobby of Thalian Hall. I ducked and wove through the masses to my destination, a reserved seat within the Ruth and Bucky Stein Black Box studio. However, when I cross the precipice into the theater, was my speed-demon rush halted, and the words of director (Beth Swindell) rushed back to me from our prior interview…

“I want to create an immersive experience,” I remember the director telling me of the show, "Men on Boats."

Well, before me was a majesty of theatrical technical wonder! A sprawling recreation of the cavernous ravine walls of the Grand Canyon! The Stein studio so utterly transformed, my mouth was agape at the sight of it. These painstakingly crafted flats encapsulated not only the stage, but the entrance walkway too. Effectively bringing the audience not only into the world of the play, but onto the very land its cast of characters would be inhabiting. The raked stage, rising and falling like an uneven Earth under foot. A sense of awe washed over the night’s audience at the sight of it, all before the production itself has even begun!

Big Dawg Theatre Company has once more ventured into the wild blue wonder to stage the play “Men on Boats” by Jaclyn Backhaus. A satirical send-up of Manifest Destiny and masculinity, with a twist, an all-female cast plays the roles of the ten male explorers. The play depicts the true (enough) account of Captain John Wesley Powell's 1869 expedition charting the Colorado River. The production is headed by director, Beth Swindell, who returns once again to the production, captaining a new cast and crew through another successful expedition of the material. Swindell’s second swing with “Men on Boats” scores laughs with its cast and inspires awe with its technical achievements. Here, Swindell has created something akin to an Alexander Payne stylized take of Joseph Conrad’s novella “Heart of Darkness.” That will leave audiences asking, just who is writing our history?

The script takes inspiration and dialogue from the actual journals of the intrepid journeymen who made up the one-armed Captain’s expedition. The year is 1869, as we find ten explorers on a government-sanctioned mission navigating the dangerous rapids of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. Repeatedly they must brave traitorous rapids, dwindling supplies, fracturing morale, and a rattlesnake or two. Pretty much if you ever played “The Oregon Trail” computer game, you’ll have a basic idea of the plot.

The opening moments introduce the expedition members in a rollcall-esque way, as their four-vessel mission rows down the rapids. An effect created by a superb mixture of Swindell’s motion choreography of the boats in water, atop Terry Collins exquisitely constructed set, all being drenched in the stunning lightning design by Cole Marquis! Levels are created by the raked stage allowing for clear sight lines at all times throughout the production. A spectacular spectacle that will grab audience’s attention from the top of the show.

While actresses embody the pack of unkempt frontier brutes on stage, it’s certainly not a gimmick played up for a bunch of fart jokes or ball-scratching, no.

Hannie Bowen completely transforms in her performance, leading her crew as the optimistic John Wesley Powell. An amputee from the Civil War, with one arm hidden up in a knotted sleeve, Bowen brings the encumbered life of Powell effortlessly to stage. In a powerful speech Bowen delivers to the entire camp, the actress through gritted teeth lays bare, the well-known challenges their disability will cause. Powell’s limitations are put on display in a high anxiety moment where they become trapped on a cliffside and must be saved by a tossed pair of trousers, don’t ask. Bowen’s physical humor, gripping to the stage wall for dear life all while keeping that upbeat demeanor really makes for a much memorable moment.

However, after a series of dangerous sets back leaves the once four-ship expedition down to only two. Dissent begins to bubble within the ranks, as Powell forms an Ahab-like obsession with pushing through. During another well-staged daring moment, three of the boats have no choice but to plunge over a steep waterfall. A glint of madness is palpable from Bowen eyes, silently screaming “Death before dishonor” as they careen over the edge! All lit under the cold, crashing blues of Marquie’s light show waterfall.

That all said, Bowen had repeated moments where her volume could have been louder. Quiet emotional nuances were chosen over a projected audible line delivery.

While the story tells of the first official mapping of the area these certainly weren’t the first people to traverse the lands. A point made between Powell and second-in-command William Dunn (Georgia Cole) they discuss the fact that they’re naming mountains and rivers that others before them already named. No matter though, as a giddy joy erupts from Cole as she dubs a cliff’s edge on the horizon, Dunn’s Cliff. Bowen and Cole share an easy chemistry which creates a genuine bond between captain and first mate.

So, when after the loss of a vessel, perversions, and (gulp) all the whiskey, it’s the ever-loyal Dunn who bridges the subject of mutiny, a slap-to-the-face reaction is felt. Dunn’s action is not from malice though, but from an earlier point made by about how they desperately “want to make the RIGHT choices.”   

A secret weapon to any production smart enough to cast her, Erin Hunter, brings her immense talents to the role of Old Shady. The actress adapts a gruff affectation and a steely eyed glare that reads get-off-my-lawn-kid to the crotchety curmudgeon. Shady is Powell’s older brother, Hunter and Bowen share enough of a passing resemblance for that familiar bond to be passable, a casting detail often overlooked.

Anna Gamel Huber is a chameleon of characters, completely in her element the more off-the-wall the role demands. As stiff upper lip British gentleman explorer, Frank Goodman, Gamel adds another notable role to her impressive comedic resume. She also strikes a solid balance with the reverence she allots the ominous omens the expedition encounter along their way. Rubbish and land makers from the doomed Ashley Expedition, a group similar to their own in all ways but success, they hope. Gamel takes the show into intermission, hitting such an air of dread about what lays ahead for the explorers once Act Two begins.

Of MVP note: Chloe “The Killer of Snakes” Mason steals scenes as Hawkins the cook. Mason instills a modern zest of energy to the project as she sling-shotting from one silly voice to the next. When she saves the camp from the besiegement of rattlesnakes, Mason's thrashing physicality will score laughs from audiences as she pounces on her prey–with a percolator pulverizing it.

While I may have only highlighted some of the talents featured, this is a beautifully crafted ensemble of insanely talented women. Each brings a unique presence to their roles and the stage. Amazing character work is being put on display, with distinct personality formed. From the well worked physicality of the synchronized rowing to the moving reactions of the majestic nature around them; The cast more than brings Swindell’s vision of the script to the stage.

For a play that’s messaging speaks so heavily to beauty of nature, it is otherworldly just how closely the tandem stage magic of Terry Collins and Cole Marquis captures that indoors. In all seriousness, what these two artists have done within a black box venue is worth the price of admission alone. Marquis works with light and gels cascading Burent Oranges against Pinks and Purples to create as visual representation of a Sun setting into evening. The passage of time is even taken into consideration as a realistic full moon is projected against a blackened top left of the stage. A detail perfectly utilized to differentiate between day and night scenes with ease.

The production also incorporates an original score composed by local musician, Justin Lacy. These original tracks serenading the audience from the moment they enter the venue, drifting them gently to their seats. A feature that plays throughout the production and adds to the sense of adventure or dread that any scene invokes. Lacy’s music created for production brought to mind Gustavo Santaolalla's work on “The Last of Us” and its sounds of soothing sorrow, like a modern western should sound.

A fast-paced splash, “Men on Boats” is one-part history lesson, another part madcap comedy, and more than a rehash of a play from Big Dawg’s past. Swindell has refined without realigning her vision of the play and takes it to its truest peaks. So, find your sense of adventure and explore some impressive theater.

DETAILS

Men on Boats

Ruth and Bucky Stein Theatre

Thalian Hall | 310 Chestnut St.

May 14-24, 2026

Thu.-Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.