Inside A.C.T.

By Elspeth Sweatman Graphic by Sasha O'Malley. Four boats. Ten men. Ninety-nine days. One thousand miles. John Wesley Powell’s expedition through the canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers—which Playwright Jaclyn Backhaus has staged in Men on Boats —has gone down in history as one of the defining heroic narratives of the American West. Yet, when he and his crew set off from Green River Station in the Wyoming Territory on May 24, 1869, they were unknown, and more hodgepodge than heroes. No one—except for Powell—had any river-running experience. The expedition had no federal funding, and there was very little attention from the press. As the explorers looked downstream on that first day, they wondered just what they had gotten themselves into. Would they encounter waterfalls taller than Niagara or boulders the size of houses? Would their days be filled with a never-ending onslaught of rapids or become a tedious slog through almost still water? And looming in the back of ...

By Annie Sears DUNN: So what should we name that mountain? SUMNER: You have an idea? DUNN: I have a few ideas! . . . - Dunn Mountain - Mount Dunn - Craggy Range - Volcano of Dunn POWELL: So you want to name it after yourself? DUNN: No, there’s Craggy Range, that has nothing to do with me. Dunn (Sarita Ocón) tells her expedition mates how she used a burlap sack to trap fish in the river. Photo by Kevin Berne. Men on Boats is full of bold characters, including the strong-willed, recognition-seeking William Dunn, played by Sarita Ocón. “He’s an individual who strategizes, plans, and does his best to execute goals while keeping the greater interests of the group in mind,” says Ocón. “But sometimes his impatient nature gets him in trouble.” Ocón stepped in when another actor had to step out, and though she hopped aboard late, she’s found great joy in joining the crew. We spoke with Ocón to hear more about being a part of an ensemble. What ha...

By Annie Sears Men on Boats is pure fun, asking actors and audience members to pretend, laugh, and play together—from dangling off the edge of a cliff to eating mealy apples around a campfire. Props Designer Jacquelyn Scott leaned into the sense of playfulness, deciding that some props would be physically present onstage while others would be mimed. “The lack of a physical prop really encourages the audience to use their imagination, and jump in on the action,” says Scott. “The swells and rapids on this daring journey down the Grand Canyon are created by both actor and audience member—it's melodramatic and exciting and fun!” We recently sat down with Scott to hear more about how removing something actually adds to the storytelling in Men on Boats . Men on Boats rehearsal props on display at the first rehearsal. Photo by Elspeth Sweatman. How did you decide which props would be present and which would be mimed? We wanted to find a balance between the set, props, and boats...

By Simon Hodgson For Men on Boats Director Tamilla Woodard, the audience’s experience is her benchmark. “When theater is successful,” she says, “we laugh, we cry, we forget where we’ve been. That’s what I’m after.” Woodard is rapidly developing a reputation as a director who really draws audiences into her stories, whether in immersive works staged in hotel rooms or on proscenium stages such as A.C.T.’s Rembe Theater. As Woodard prepared for rehearsals, we spoke with her about the voyage of exploration in Men on Boats . A.C.T. General Manager Louisa Balch and Director Tamilla Woodard at the first rehearsal for Men on Boats . What makes Men on Boats a show for a Bay Area audience? The Bay is still a frontier, not only across the physical environment, but also the political and social justice environments. It’s a place of adventure, a place where people find unknown territory, and a place where movements start. It’s the perfect city for this play. How is Playwright Jaclyn B...

By Joy Meads  Dramaturg Joy Meads and Director Tamilla Woodard laugh together at the first rehearsal for Men on Boats. On the first day of rehearsal for Men on Boats , sound designer Kate Marvin played a sample of the music she was creating for the show. She had vividly captured the iconic sound of western adventure familiar from a thousand movies and television shows. The stirring rhythms and soaring strains called up memories I didn’t know I still held inside me: tales of audacity, strength, courage, and the heroic acts of rugged men. These stories helped shape my earliest ideas of leadership, tenacity, and the indomitable American spirit. I suspect many of you can relate. The heroes of these stories were, of course, inevitably male and relentlessly white, and I later came to understand the narrow and contorted view of reality they offered. With a few, notable exceptions, people of color were erased, flattened, or vilified, and rigid, binary gender roles were scrupulousl...

By Hannah Clague, Education & Community Programs Fellow On the first page of her play Men on Boats , playwright Jaclyn Backhaus gives a note on casting: “The characters in Men on Boats were historically cisgender white males. The cast should be made up entirely of people who are not. I’m talking about racially diverse actors who are female-identifying, trans-identifying, genderfluid, and/or non-gender-conforming.” In creating an event to accompany A.C.T.’s mainstage production of Men on Boats , we in A.C.T.’s Education & Community Programs department wanted to reflect Backhaus’s vision. Just as the playwright created a world in which actors from a variety of genders are given voice to tell John Wesley Powell’s story, we wanted to produce an event that provided a space in which people of a variety of genders could tell their own. I remember sitting in Mrs. Ross’s fifth-grade US History class, flipping through the pages of our History Alive! textbooks (cue my cl...

By Annie Sears Men on Boats is a play in all senses of the word. It plays with traditional gender roles. It asks actors to play historical figures they’re not, and it asks audiences to play along. For Scenic Designer Nina Ball, it started by playing with paper. We recently sat down with Ball to hear about the challenge and triumph of transforming the limited Strand stage into the vast Grand Canyon. Lighting Designer Robert Hand and Scenic Designer Nina Ball play with Ball's model at the Men on Boats meet and greet. Photo by Elspeth Sweatman. What does your design process look like? My design process follows a general shape that works for me, but has variations show to show. There is usually a lot of research followed by sketching, floor plans, and 3D modeling. A scale model usually follows, along with all the design drawings. But sometimes, like with Men on Boats , I go straight to a physical model. We wanted to play with the moving walls, so I did a lot of ripping of pa...

By Annie Sears Arwen Anderson and Rod Gnapp play with their son Rowan at a local park. Photo courtesy Arwen Anderson. It’s a big week for the Anderson-Gnapp family. Rod Gnapp is currently performing on The Geary as Stan in Sweat , which closes Sunday. His wife Arwen Anderson will soon grace The Strand as Goodman in Men on Boats , which begins previews tomorrow. Both Gnapp and Anderson are A.C.T. veterans. You may have seen Anderson most recently in Heisenberg (2018) or Gnapp—a graduate of A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program—in The Realistic Joneses (2016). They met while working on Magic Theatre’s 2009 production of Mauritius , directed by Loretta Greco, who also directed Sweat . Later that year, they were cast in another play at Magic called Mrs. Whitney. Gnapp started flirting with Anderson—who was playing his character’s fifth wife—during that show, and they’ve been together ever since. Last summer, they performed together in Marin Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet as Gertrude and Claud...

By Annie Sears Everyone aboard! We snuck into the first rehearsal for Men on Boats —playing at The Strand from October 17—and got an early look at the cast and creative vision for this subversive and exciting adventure. Men on Boats follows one-armed, Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell and his team of nine explorers as they traverse the Green and Colorado Rivers, ultimately “discovering” the Grand Canyon. Historically, these expeditioners were white, cisgender [a person whose gender identity is the same as the gender assigned at birth] men. But when the story is mounted on A.C.T.’s Strand stage, the characters will be embodied by a racially diverse cast of female-identifying actors. The script toys with traditional gender conventions, and because the script also contemporizes language and offers opportunities for bold physicality, it does so through comedy. “You are embarking on bringing to life what I think is a masterful—do we say mistress-ful—play,” said Artistic Director P...