Ushered by dimmed lights and the sound of the actors’ deep breaths, the packed house of Halberg Theatre was transported to the mountains last Thursday on the opening night of Cal State Fullerton’s production of “Men on Boats.”
The play, based on the real geographical expedition led by John Wesley Powell in 1869, follows 10 men as they trek the Colorado Territory at the behest of the U.S. government. During their journey, they brave the rough rivers and make their way to what would become known as the Grand Canyon.
The main draw of the play is that while all the principal characters are cisgender men, none of the actors are. However, they seamlessly don the costume of masculinity, making their true identities fall away by act two.
The script by Jaclyn Backhaus allows the cast to portray stereotypical masculinity in a comical way; crude humor got the biggest laughs opening night, particularly when the men share arousing reactions to eating their last remaining apple.
“Usually with women, we have to stay feminine and soft and sweet,” said director Anjela Vega. “But this, it’s rugged and dirty and hard and they could be gritty and dirty and gross and spit and pick their nose and do all the things that women aren’t usually known to do, and now they’re doing it in front of everybody.”
Lead actress Caylie Natsch, third-year devised theatre major, delivers lines with conviction and bravado as Powell, earning the audience’s support through his unwavering belief. She also takes full advantage of the physical humor that comes with playing a character with only one arm.
With Powell being the most famous member of the expedition team, Natsch had plenty of research to comb through during the summer, including the audiobook version of his book chronicling the expedition.
“I would listen to that on car rides and looking at pictures of the Grand Canyon and all the rivers just to get into that headspace,” Natsch said. “We watched some videos of whitewater rafting, which helped a lot.”
While the other cast members had limited information regarding their characters, that arguably gave them artistic license to make the characters their own. This is most accurate for Oliver Egan’s character William Dunn. He is portrayed as the voice of reason, though he has his moments of flawed aspiration, such as his recurring quest to have a mountain named after him.
“The unfortunate part for mine and a lot of the other characters is that there’s not a lot on them,” said Egan, a third-year devised theatre major. “All I got was obituaries, so I did a lot of digging through the journal to see mentions of my character.”
The cast’s camaraderie is palpable, illustrating both chemistry and tension between each other. This is best demonstrated by the central relationship between Powell and Dunn. The rest of the ensemble also manages to balance comedy and drama surprisingly well through their body language. The youthful gumption Ashleigh Perales brings to the 19-year-old George Bradley is infectious, making her a hilarious standout.
“I did research on the character and then found out that I was playing him way younger,” said Perales, a fourth-year devised theatre major. “So I looked back at old videos of when I was 19 and tried to embody that, and then I also made a playlist for him which also consisted of songs that I listened to when I was 19.”
There are few props used in the production other than barrels, sacks and cups among other items, allowing for improv and space work. This immerses the viewer into the world of the play, from sound design to beautifully painted mountain sets.
“What I wanted to do with the scenic design was to give the actors a space to really explore, really go through the experience of discovering the Grand Canyon,” said Mak Stewart, a second-year transfer theatre major and the show’s scenic designer.
As the play ended and the cast received a standing ovation, it became clear that “Men on Boats” will subvert expectations of casual theatregoers and aficionados alike.
“The fact that they were all able to so fluidly act like men that you don’t even think of the fact that ‘Oh, it’s a woman acting like a man,’” said Samantha Briere, a freshman theatre major. “No, these are the characters that they are portraying and it’s just amazing.”
“Men on Boats” is scheduled to run until Oct. 18.