Overview: ‘Men on Boats’ units sail on CSUF stage | Way of life

Ushered by dimmed lights and the sound of the actors’ deep breaths, the packed home of Halberg Theatre was transported to the mountains final Thursday on the opening evening of Cal State Fullerton’s manufacturing of “Men on Boats.”

The play, based mostly on the actual geographical expedition led by John Wesley Powell in 1869, follows 10 males as they trek the Colorado Territory on the behest of the U.S. authorities. During their journey, they courageous the tough rivers and make their technique to what would turn into generally known as the Grand Canyon.

The predominant draw of the play is that whereas all of the principal characters are cisgender males, not one 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 permits the solid to painting stereotypical masculinity in a comical manner; crude humor bought the most important laughs opening evening, significantly when the boys share arousing reactions to consuming their final remaining apple. 

“Usually with women, we have to stay feminine and soft and sweet,” mentioned 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 main, delivers traces with conviction and bravado as Powell, incomes the viewers’s assist via his unwavering perception. She additionally takes full benefit of the bodily humor that comes with taking part in a personality with just one arm.

With Powell being essentially the most well-known member of the expedition staff, Natsch had loads of analysis to comb via throughout the summer time, together with the audiobook model of his guide 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 mentioned. “We watched some videos of whitewater rafting, which helped a lot.”

While the opposite solid members had restricted data concerning their characters, that arguably gave them creative license to make the characters their very own. This is most correct for Oliver Egan’s character William Dunn. He is portrayed because the voice of motive, although he has his moments of flawed aspiration, reminiscent of 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,” mentioned Egan, a third-year devised theatre main. “All I got was obituaries, so I did a lot of digging through the journal to see mentions of my character.”

The solid’s camaraderie is palpable, illustrating each chemistry and rigidity between one another. This is finest demonstrated by the central relationship between Powell and Dunn. The remainder of the ensemble additionally manages to stability comedy and drama surprisingly nicely via their physique 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,” mentioned Perales, a fourth-year devised theatre main. “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 within the manufacturing aside from barrels, sacks and cups amongst different objects, permitting for improv and area work. This immerses the viewer into the world of the play, from sound design to fantastically painted mountain units.

“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,” mentioned Mak Stewart, a second-year switch theatre main and the present’s scenic designer.

As the play ended and the solid obtained a standing ovation, it turned clear that “Men on Boats” will subvert expectations of informal 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,’” mentioned Samantha Briere, a freshman theatre main. “No, these are the characters that they are portraying and it’s just amazing.”

“Men on Boats” is scheduled to run till Oct. 18.