Inspiration
I saw a production of Men on Boats at a Kennedy Center Festival a few years before COVID and had been wanting to direct it ever since. I really enjoyed the contemporary dialogue, the delightful re-imaginings of historical characters and the challenge of creating the movement of boats on the river. I was also really interested in unpacking themes about our country’s problematic histories including topics of colonization, the Westward expansion and the renaming of indigenous lands. The part I was most excited about though, was the exploration of 1860’s heteronormative masculinity utilizing an ensemble of actors who identified completely differently than the cisgendered white men these characters were based on (which the playwright expressly requested in her notes.) My biggest concern was the dedication it would take to bring this kind of a show to life, since – as an ensemble piece with a heavy movement component – it would require large time commitment from the actors. Post-covid, I just wasn’t sure this kind of commitment was possible for our students. Luckily, I was happily surprised by the amount of time, energy and hard work the cast invested into the production in the end. Their dedication made all the difference.
Concept & Conceit
In writing the play with this interpretation in mind, the playwright challenged our creative team with questions such as ‘Who gets to tell our national and historic stories and why?’ or ‘How does the telling change our understanding of what happened?” Our team leaned into the idea that these actors were playing these characters fully, but from the inside out. We did not emphasize that they were men through outward appearance (most of the actors kept their long hair braided or loose down their backs) but rather, we made costume choices based on individual characters identities beyond gender. Who was the captain, the provoker, the loyalist, the professional, the dabbler, the connector, the savior, the green one, the glory hound, the jokester, the doer, the waiter and see-er, the poet, the survivor, the cautious one, the reckless one, etc. These archetypes (based on deep dives into the Micheal Chekov technique) afforded us the ability to give these characters integrity based on personality and history. At the same time, we also worked on what it meant to be a group of men through physicality and embodiment. The brotherhood came to life during these revelatory rehearsals.
In keeping the style of the play comedic, despite the serious nature of the plot, I sought to emphasize the general naivete of the characters about what bravery and glory meant and what it costs in order to be remembered. My concept spine centered this idea: without humility, heroics welcome disaster. Towards that end, as a cast and creative team we took deep dives into researching Manifest Destiny, the Colonialism of the Old West, Expeditions and the Westward Expansion. We also spent time examining the inherent bias of cartography as a whole. We were lucky enough to be able to hire an aspring dramaturg to help us explore these questions deeply, as well as work interdisciplinarily with a professor teaching a cartography course at Bucknell. In addition, since the play also examined what the cartography of the American West meant for Native Americans, we were able to hire a cultural consultant, Sierra Pete, who centers herself as a Native American and an Artist. This consultant also became a co-costume designer on the project and was primarily in charge of researching and crafting the Native American character costumes. She was also integral in helping the cast and crew understand the significance of the work in relation to the lived experiences of Native Americans. In this way we strove to create a culturally sensitive portrayal of what these Men on Boats actually did and who they disadvantaged along the way. In addition, since the character of John Wesley Powell was a historically disabled man, we were also able to hire a disability consultant, Sam Yates (a disability in theatre scholar) who was able to help us consider the ways we portrayed the character on a multitude of levels from physicality and acting choices, to costume choices to relationships onstage. He collaboration was integral to the actor playing John Wesley Powell. This was another way we sought to create meaningful as well as deeply intentional portrayals onstage.
Lastly, I invited movement director Dustyn Martincich to join us to craft the river and the movement of the Boats onstage. Working in tandem with the scenic designer and the technical director, we settled on boats that were creative ‘rocking chair’ type benches that allowed for the feel of the movement without being to anchored in realism. These boats, and their corresponding playful paddles, allowed us to create the rules of the river onstage – and then brake those rules as we got further into the play. As the characters in the play lost more and more supplies, we mirrored this through the loss of costume pieces, paddles, and eventually even the boats themselves, to highlight their loss as well as their determination. This allowed the movement to continue to grow and change as the play went on. We also enjoyed using the orchestra pit as a place for actors to ‘disappear’ into the ‘water’ and a makeshift campfire area as well.