Men on Boats

November 30–December 22

Men on Boats
By Jaclyn Backhaus
Directed by Jenny Koons

“ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! A DEATH-DEFYING JOY RIDE.” —MD Theatre Guide

A ROLLICKING COMEDY

This rollicking comedy is history as you’ve never seen it before — without a single man in sight. Join a team of explorers as they tell the true(ish) story of the “discovery” of the Grand Canyon and upend everything…including their boats.

RUN TIME: Approximately 105 minutes with no intermission.

WARNING: This performance includes the use of recorded gunshots.

CONTENT ADVISORY: Baltimore Center Stage recognizes each family’s need to make informed decisions about what show is appropriate for their young people. We do not presume that every show is well-suited for every young person, and it is in that spirit we share the following content considerations. This play contains profanity and consumption of alcoholic beverages.

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Cast

Ceci Fernandez*
John Wesley Powell

Kai Heath*
Hall

Haruna Lee*
Old Shady

Keren Lugo*
O.G. Howland/Tsauwiat

Patrena Murray*
John Colton Sumner

Sara Porkalob*
Hawkins

Jessica Ranville*
William Dunn

Eileen Rivera*
Seneca Howland/The Bishop

Elena Urdaneta*
Bradley

Natalie Woolams-Torres
Goodman/Mr. Asa

Haruna Lee (Old Shady) is a Taiwanese-Japanese-American theater maker whose work is rooted in a liberation-based healing practice while committed to promoting arts activism and emergent strategies through ethical and process-based collaborations. Recent plays include Suicide Forest (published by 53rd State Press), plural (love), and Memory Retrograde. As a performer, they’ve worked with Aya Ogawa, Minor Theater, The Drunkard’s Wife, Ralph Lee, Yoshiko Chuma, Shirotama Hitsujiya & Trista Baldwin, Taylor Mac, Mac Wellman, David Lang, Dave Malloy, Rachel Chavkin, César Alvarez, Kate Benson & Lee Sunday Evans, and Anohni- among many others. They currently teach at NYU Experimental Theater Wing. harunalee.com

Patrena Murray (Sumner) Off-Broadway: Daryl Roth Theater: Gloria: A Life. NLTP: The hollower. The Public Theater: Masculinity Max, The Winter’s Tale (MU), The Delacorte: A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Signature Theatre Company: Venus & The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World a.k.a The Negro Book of the Dead. Regional: McCarter Theatre: Gloria: A Life. Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Oresteia, Mark Taper Forum: Father Comes Home from the Wars (parts 1, 2, & 3), A.R.T.: Gloria: A Life, Father Comes Home from the Wars (parts 1, 2, & 3). Film: (short) Daddy. T.V: The Sopranos, Law & Order.

Sara Porkalob (Hawkins) is a theatre-activist and creator of the DRAGON CYCLE, a trilogy of plays about her Filipino gangster family. The first in the cycle, Dragon Lady, won three 2018 Gregory Awards for Outstanding Sound/Music Design, Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and Outstanding Musical Production. The second in the cycle, Dragon Mama, premiered at American Repertory Theatre (ART) and won two 2019 Elliot Norton Awards for Best Original Script and Best Solo Performance. ART has commissioned her to finish the third in the cycle, Dragon Baby. She’s thrilled to be making her Baltimore Center Stage debut! www.saraporkalob.com

Eileen Rivera (Seneca/The Bishop) is thrilled to return to BCS where she performed in The White Snake and It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Other DC area: Tiger Style! at Olney Theatre Center, Vietgone at Studio Theatre. Off-Broadway (partial list): Beast (NYTW), Dogeaters (The Public), A Fable (Rattlestick Playwrights Co.), King Lear (Cherry Lane Mentor Project). Regional (partial list): The Hour of Great Mercy (Diversionary, San Diego), The Long Season (Perseverance; Juneau, Alaska), The Comfort Team (Virginia Stage Co.). Film: Mildred, Daughter of Venus; The Barrelman Caper. TV: Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Learn more at www.eileenrivera.com

Natalie Woolams-Torres (Goodman/Mr. Asa) Natalie’s theater credits include the original cast production of Tiny Beauty Things directed by Tommy Kail at The Public Theater and Pasadena Playhouse. Other NY Public Theater Credits: Hamlet, directed by Patricia McGregor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Jenny Koons. Shakespeare in the Park credits include Comedy of Errors directed by Daniel Sullivan, the all-female Taming of The Shrew directed by Phyllida Lloyd, and Julius Caesar directed by Oskar Eustis. Film credits include Farewell directed by actor Chris Chalk. TV credits include Difficult People (Hulu). Upcoming: Room 104, Season 4 (HBO), HIGH MAINTENANCE, Season 4 (HBO). She attended SUNY Purchase Theater Arts and Film.

Creative Team

Jaclyn Backhaus
Playwright

Jenny Koons
Director

Ruth Anne Watkins
Production Stage Manager

Danielle Teague-Daniels*
Resident Stage Manager

Cathy Hwang*
Assistant Stage Manager

Josie R. Felt*
Assistant Stage Manager

Stephanie Osin Cohen
Scenic Designer

Hahnji Jang
Costume Design

Stacey Derosier
Lighting Designer

Elisheba Ittoop
Sound Design/Original Music

Rebecca Feldman
Casting

Ada Karamanyan
Casting

Toni Rae Salmi
Assistant Director

Susannah Hyde
Assistant Set Designer

Ali Eckler
Assistant Costume Designer

Tyler Omundsen
Assistant Lighting Designer

Jaclyn Backhaus is a playwright and co-founder of Fresh Ground Pepper. Her play Men on Boats was a NYT Critics’ Pick (Off-Broadway, Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons) after starting in Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks, and was a Kilroys play in 2015. Other works include PEOPLE DOING MATH LIVE! (Under The Radar Festival’s INCOMING! Series at The Public Theater), THE INCREDIBLE FOX SISTERS (Live Source), YOU ON THE MOORS NOW (Theater Reconstruction Ensemble, The Hypocrites Theater Chicago), BULL’S HOLLOW (Ars Nova), and the musical FOLK WANDERING. She has received commissions from Playwrights Horizons and Ars Nova and is the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Clubbed Thumb. Her work has been developed and showcased with the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Playwrights Horizons, The Public and Joe’s Pub, The Ice Factory Festival, (not just) 3 New Plays, The Civilians R&D Group, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ars Nova’s ANT Fest, and The Falcons. BFA: NYU. She hails from Phoenix, Arizona.

Jenny Koons (Director) Recent projects: Blue Man Group Speechless (new national tour), Between Us: The Deck of Cards (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), The Tempest (The Juilliard School), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theater Mobile Unit), Burn All Night (American Repertory Theater), Instant SPKRBOX (SPKRBOX Festival commission, Norway), Gimme Shelter (Why Not Theatre, Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games), and A Sucker Emcee (LAByrinth Theater Company). Jenny was co-curator of the 2016 Toronto ThisGen Conference and co-founder of Artists 4 Change NYC (National Black Theatre). She is a proud 2017 Lilly Award recipient.

Baltimore Center Stage: How to Catch Creation, A Wonder in my Soul, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, SOUL The Stax Musical, The Christians. For the past 18 years, she has worked and reprised her role as SM with many companies including: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Clubbed Thumb, 3LD, Lee Strasberg Institute, LAByrinth Theater, Rising Circle Theater Collective, Big Apple Circus, NYU Steinhardt and New Dramatists. She’s also wrapped up Bello Mania at the New Victory Theater on 42nd St. She has also worked on two Broadway Bound workshops: The Donna Summer Project (La Jolla Playhouse) and Ain’t Too Proud (Berkeley Rep). Danielle also worked on Michael Kors’ fashion show in Shanghai, China.

Stephanie Osin Cohen (Scenic Designer) is a NYC-based scenic designer. Credits Include: This American Wife (Next Door at New York Theater Workshop); Good Faith (Yale Repertory Theater); Circle Jerk (workshop at Ars Nova); Winter’s Tale, Coriolanus (Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford); Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (Luna Stage); Ni Mi Madre (Sea Festival, NY); Pentecost, Much Ado About Nothing, Lear, Avital (Yale School of Drama); Candace (American Pavilion selection at Cannes Film Festival) Home Exercise (short film presented at MoMA as part of the NYFF). Stephanie received her MFA from Yale School of Drama. She is a Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of the 2019 Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship. www.stephanieosincohen.com

Stacey Derosier (NYC based lighting designer) credits include: for all the women who thought they were Mad (Soho Rep), White Noise conceived by Daniel Fish (NYU Skirball), Novenas for a Lost Hospital (Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater), No One is Forgotten (Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater), the bandaged place (NYSAF Powerhouse), Playing Hot! (Pipeline Theater Company), The Climb (Cherry Lane – Mentor Project), Mies Julie & Dance of Death (Classic Stage Company), Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater), The Revolving Cycles Truly & Steadily Roll’d (Playwright’s Realm), 1969: The Second Man (3rd Place Projects) as co-lighting designer) & the 2018 Lilly Award recipient of the Daryl Roth Prize.

Elisheba Ittoop (Sound Design/Original Music) Her designs and original music have been heard at The Kennedy Center, The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, New York Theatre Workshop, Guthrie Theater, American Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre, Signature Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Soho Rep, Huntington Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, Ford’s Theatre, Folger Theatre, Arena Stage, Alliance Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, National Gallery of Art, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Okeechobee Music Festival, the Center for Puppetry Arts, and others. She has produced podcasts and written music for NPR, CNN, Audible, WGBH, WFMT/Glimmerglass, Wondery, and others. Education: New York University, North Carolina School of the Arts. www.elishebaittoop.com

Baltimore Center Stage: debut. Seven years as Casting Associate/Assistant at the Public Theater (NYC), working directly on over 50 mainstage productions and over 100 readings. In addition to work at the Public: Off-Broadway (as Casting Director): The View UpStairs (Scott Ebersold). Broadway (as Casting Associate or Assistant): The Inheritance (Stephen Daldry); The Iceman Cometh (George C. Wolfe); Shuffle Along (George C. Wolfe), A Delicate Balance (Pam MacKinnon), A Raisin in the Sun (Kenny Leon), Lucky Guy (George C. Wolfe). London (as Casting Associate): The Inheritance (Young Vic and West End, dir. Stephen Daldry). Film (as Casting Assistant): Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig). Other select Casting Director credits include: Women’s Project Theater Lab Pipeline Festival (2018), bimonthly reading series for The LGBT Center & Tom Kirdahy Productions, Normativity (NYMF), Beardo (Pipeline Theatre Company).

Ada Karamanyan (she/her or they/them) is a casting professional based out of Brooklyn, NY. She currently serves as the casting associate for The Playwrights Realm, and as a producing artistic leader for the fellowship program Trans Lab alongside co-founders MJ Kaufman and Kit Yan. She recently served as a casting associate for Baltimore Center Stage’s production of Men on Boats, and Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown’s Miss You Like Hell, directed by Rebecca Martínez. This past Spring, Ada had the distinct privilege of singlehandedly casting Shakespeare’s entire canon for Play On Shakespeare’s Play On! Festival, in collaboration with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Classic Stage Company. Other affiliations include casting for Island Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Arizona Theatre Co, New York Musical Festival, New York Theater Workshop (2017-2018 administrative fellow in casting), and Arizona Theatre Company— A Contemporary Theatre.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

In the Press

For all other press related information please go to our Press Room or contact:

Robyn Murphy at 410.986.4016 or rmurphy@centerstage.org.

Reviews

““Four oars out of four!””— The Baltimore Sun

““Comedic gold! Rewrites the rules… It’s quite brilliant, actually. A definite must-see this season.””— DC Metro Theater Arts

““Loud and gleeful! A magnetic, exquisitely droll ensemble cast of women and non-binary people.””— DC Theatre Scene

““Absolutely hilarious! A death-defying joy ride.””— MD Theatre Guide

In the News

12-12-2019: WYPR—Rousuck's Review: "Men On Boats" at Center Stage
12-13-2019: The Baltimore Sun—In real life they were white men. This Baltimore play uses women, people of color
12-10-2019: DC Metro Theater Arts—‘Men on Boats’ rewrites the rules at Baltimore Center Stage
12-10-2019: DC Theatre Scene—Review: Men on Boats at Baltimore Center Stage
12-11-2019: MD Theatre Guide—Theatre Review: ‘Men on Boats’ at Center Stage

“ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! A DEATH-DEFYING JOY RIDE.” —MD Theatre Guide

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“ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! A DEATH-DEFYING JOY RIDE.” —MD Theatre Guide

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