My First W&M Weekend

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[PAST EVENT] Auditions for "Men On Boats" by Jaclyn Backhaus 

August 29, 2024
6pm
Location
Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Memorial Hall, Studio Theatre
601 Jamestown Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
  • Registration/RSVP
poster for the play

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" - Jaclyn Backhaus 


Director: Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor Abbie Cathcart

Venue: Studio Theatre, Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall

Complete the audition form by 6 pm on Thursday 8/29.


If cast, you are expected to attend all rehearsals for which you are scheduled and may be required to attend costume appointments or other relevant meetings outside of the published rehearsal schedule.  


Mandatory Dates:

Auditions: Thursday, 8/29 from 6-9 pm (movement and voice group warmup/audition at 6 pm). Check-in begins at 5:30 pm.  

Callbacks: Friday, 8/30 from 6-8 pm. Callbacks will be shared by Friday morning. 

Rehearsals: 9/3-9/26 Sunday-Thursday 6-10 pm  

Tech & Dress Rehearsals: 9/27-10/2 

Performances: 10/3-5 at 7:30 pm 10/6 at 2:00 pm 


Description:

In 1869, ten explorers set off to chart the Green and Colorado Rivers, under the guidance of John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War Veteran and personal friend of President Grant, a government-sanctioned journey following in the footsteps of the deserters, lone adventurers, and countless indigenous people who have previously braved the wild rapids leading through Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, and through the most dangerous waterway of all: the Grand Canyon. Along the way they make friends, they get on each other’s nerves, they suffer loss of boat and supplies, they doubt, struggle, and name mountains after themselves, they posture and pretend, they quit while they’re ahead, and they repeatedly brave dangerous rapids to reach the other side. As boats capsize and supplies are lost, as belts tighten and nerves fray, the company draws together as a band of brothers, even as three members fear the outcome of the final waterfalls and make the fateful decision to leave before the end. In Men On Boats, Jacklyn Backhaus’ original, hilarious, and delightful adventure dramedy, the conquering men out to chronicle the land in service of America, God, and Manifest Destiny, are given voice and movement by actors who are anything and everything but white and male, and the bravery, determination, foolishness, humanity, and true grit of the historical explorers is memorialized, while the historical moment of their journey is viewed with a critical lens. 


Sponsored by: Department of Theatre and Performance

Contact

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