Men on Boats Program

Chair
E.J. Westlake

Production Manager
Sherée Greco

Director
Beth Kattelman

Scenic and Properties Designer
Braden Graves

Costume Designer
Catherine Huffman

Lighting Designer
Braden Graves

Sound Designer
Jesse Tack

Technical Director
Chris Zinkon

Production Stage Manager
Skylar Kyser

Dramaturg
Sarah Cole

Movement Coach
Jeanine Thompson

Assistant Scenic Designer
Yun Yen

Assistant Lighting Designer
Iz Nichols

Assistant Stage Manager
Sydney Athans

External Relations and Publicity Coordinator
J. Briggs Cormier

Ticketing Services and Audience Services Specialist
Julia Buttermore

Graphic Design
Formation Studio

Scenic Studio Manager
Chad R. Mahan

Scenic Studio Teaching Associates
Braden Graves, Jessica Hightower, Katherine Simon

Scenery Construction Crew
Hannah Allen, Olivia Bernardo, Joe Blair, Torrey Brown, Holly Dellinger, Aly Diallo, Valerie Dunmire, Dianne Evans, Katie, Giffin, Rae Givant, Allison Hunter, Nate Johnson, Savanna Lenze, Ruth Luketic, Daija Mumford, Tia Nicholson-Bourn, Jordan O'Callaghan, Claire Pennington, Othman Shuri, Chayni Smith, Shailyn Stuckey, Madeline Watson, Rachel White, Gabe Willenberg, Lauryn Williams, Lyric Williams, Ansley Wilson, Harrison Woflhope, Christopher Wright

Scenic Run Crew
Max Center, Sofia Du

Costume Studio Manager
Coco Mayer

Costume Studio Teaching Associates
Jo Fuller, Catherine Huffman

Costume Construction Crew
Kami Bumpers, Max Center, Katie Giffin, Newt Harvey, Ramsha Ghani, Andrew Gilgen, Keona Hibbard, Renee Jones, Charlie Kaneer, Sophia Kortan, Angela Montecalvo, Iz Nichols, Jinblossom Plati, Katie Stephan, Isabel Tettau, Savannah Walton

Wardrobe Head
Katie Giffin

Wardrobe Crew
Linsey Bachman, Akky Oyagi

Lighting Studio Manager and Master Electrician
Eric M. Slezak

Lighting Crew
Qiuyu Dong, Robin Eaken, Audra Franke, David Ghansah, Anne Lang

Lighting Programmer
Iz Nichols

Lighting Console Operator
Harrison Wolfhope

Sound and Media Studio Manager
Keya Myers-Alkire

Sound Crew
Deken Foster, Allison Hunter, Lili Nelson, Arianna Swain

Sound Board Operator
Jingxuan Du

Ticket Office Staff
Fatoumata Kante, Jason Speicher

House Managers
Bailey Haller

Sydney Athans (asst. stage manager), junior
  Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
  Major(s): English
  Minor(s): theatre
  Department Productions: 1st department production

Madalyn Blackford (Frank Goodman/Mr. Asa), junior
  Hometown: Melbourne, FL
  Major(s): air transportation
  Minor(s): Spanish
  Department Productions: 1st department production

Hailee Franklin (Seneca Howland/Johnson), sophomore
  Hometown: Columbus, OH
  Major(s): music; theatre
  Department Productions: Violet

Braden Graves (scenic and lighting designer), graduate student
  Hometown: Prineville, OR
  Major(s): theatre
  Department Productions: A Midsummer Night's Dream; Once Upon the Oval; The Seagull; Violet

Newton A. Harvey (Hall), senior
  Hometown: Alice, TX
  Major(s): theatre
  Department Productions: debut

Melissa N. Hobson (John Colton Sumner), sophomore
  Hometown: Rochester, NY
  Major(s): theatre
  Department Productions: debut

Catherine Huffman (costume designer), graduate student
  Hometown: Columbus, OH
  Major(s): theatre 
  Department Productions: Sweat

Renèe Jones (Old Shady), junior
  Hometown: Eastlake, OH
  Major(s): Italian; theatre
  Minor(s): musical theatre
  Department Productions: debut

Susan Kim (O.G. Howland/Just Jim), junior
  Hometown: Columbus, OH
  Major(s): marketing
  Department Productions: debut

Skylar Kyser (production stage manager), senior
  Hometown: Toledo, OH
  Major(s): African-American and African studies; theatre
  Department Productions: In the Next Room

Ava Petersen (Bradley), senior
  Hometown: Columbus, OH
  Major(s): psychology; theatre
  Minor(s): studio art
  Department Productions: In the Next Room

Jess Phalen (Hawkins & warm-up captain), senior
  Hometown: West Windsor, NJ
  Major(s): psychology
  Minor(s): criminal justice; theatre
  Department Productions: In the Next Room

Eva Scherrer (John Wesley Powell), senior
  Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
  Major(s): history; political science
  Minor(s): Spanish; theatre
  Department Productions: Indecent; The Seagull

Carlie Shearer (William Dunn), senior
  Hometown: Dayton, OH
  Major(s): linguistics, theatre
  Minor(s): Italian
  Department Productions: debut

Jesse Tack (sound designer), senior
  Hometown: St. Clair Shores, MI
  Major(s): theatre
  Department Productions: Red Velvet; The Seagull; Sweat

“We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not…. their lithe but powerful forms seem to move around me; and the memory of the men and their heroic deeds, the men and their generous acts, overwhelms me with a joy that seems almost a grief.”-John Wesley Powell 

From the first moment of this production, thoughtfully titled Men on Boats, an urgent question will arise: where are all the men? Great question. Playwright, Jaclyn Backhaus, is so glad you asked. Yes, this play is about a rag-tag group of adventuring men, but it is about so much more. 

Backhaus first encountered John Wesley Powell and his 1869 expedition when she was a young kid in Arizona. She listened to stories that immortalized the histories of brave men beating the odds and encountering the vast unknown of a “final frontier”: the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. As an adult, this epic tale became a reality for Backhaus when she stumbled upon Powell’s extensive, published journals and decided to transform the source material into a play.

Backhaus began her monumental undertaking of Men on Boats in 2013, but the staging of this story confronted her with deeper conflicts. While the play creates a world that celebrates the relationships, hardships, and triumphs of these explorers, it also suggests the distressing history of colonial oppression, displacement, and violence toward Indigenous nations. The ideals of “Manifest Destiny” represented the opportunity for men like Powell to rewrite the nation’s identity by naming lands that didn’t belong to them, regardless of those who were silenced and erased in the process. Just as she gives voice to the expedition history, Backhaus explores how subverting realistic elements in favor of imagination can remind us of who else’s story also lurks in the narrative.

In the script, Backhaus provides a very important casting note:

“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-genderconforming.”

By changing the embodiment of these characters, Men on Boats becomes a play about gender, identity, and power. It provides a space for actors and creators to reimagine this story.

Men on Boats is an endearingly irreverent, comedic adventure that pokes fun at the glory-seeking attitudes of these white men. Backhaus removes these men from their “historical pedestals” and presents them as real people who lived and breathed, swore, laughed, worried, joked, made mistakes, and wondered about their mortality. It maintains the joyous celebration of adventure and reminds us that we share a common humanity and that we are all searching for a place of belonging.

So welcome to Men on Boats. Thanks for taking this journey with us. We hope you enjoy the ride.

Follow this link to explore our production and the history of Men on Boats.

The Country Wife
By William Wycherley
Directed by Tom Dugdale and E.J. Westlake

Thurber Theatre
November 9 - 17

Horner spreads the rumor that he’s impotent to gain other men’s trust and access to their wives, seducing the latter, and cuckolding the former. Pinchwife attempts to keep his much younger and inexperienced new wife away from the attention of London rakes such as Horner. Horner’s friend Harcourt falls in love with Pinchwife’s sister Alithea and seeks her hand in marriage even though she’s engaged Sparkish, a vain socialite.

First produced in 1675, this play spent nearly 200 years banned from stage and print because of its scandalous story and risqué language. Our production of William Wycherley’s Restoration comedy uses Netflix’s Bridgerton as an inspiration, mixing periods and blending styles to explore themes of love, fidelity, freedom, and power.

Wilderness
By Seth Bockley and Anne Hamburger
Directed by Mandy Fox

River Den
February 15 - 23

At an outdoor wilderness camp for troubled youth, six teenagers grapple with mental health, addiction, and gender and sexual identity. They laugh, cry, and rage against the world, finding friendship as they attempt to navigate their way to adulthood at a time when the society no longer offer a clear path. The trauma they experience leaves them with anxiety, sadness, and self-doubt.

This devastating docudrama by Seth Bockley (Gilgamesh and Enkidu; Tabletop Tragedies; Farewell Fables) and Anne Hamburger (A Dozen Dreams; Basetrack Live) explores the psychological trauma adolescents face today.

Everybody
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Kevin McClatchy

River Den
March 1 - 9

In this allegory, Everybody seeks someone to accompany them through life’s journey in hopes of securing a positive outcome when judged by God at the end of their life. After being rejected by Friendship, Kinship, Stuff, Mind, Five Senses, and Understanding, Everybody turns to Love for support. In the end, only Love leads to salvation as together, hand-in-hand, they crawl into the grave.

2016 MacArthur Fellow Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Appropriate; An Octoroon; Gloria) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Everybody, a contemporary take on the 15th-Century morality play Everyman. To symbolize the randomness of death, five of the actors are assigned a role each performance through a lottery.

Men on Boats is the final production in the Roy Bowen Theatre. This time next year, the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts will be settled into a new home on College Road in the Arts District. Over more than 50 years, this theatre has seen everything from classics to experimental work. When this production closes, we will bid farewell to our black box theatre named after a beloved faculty member.

The Roy Bowen Theatre was dedicated on April 8, 1999, in honor of Roy Bowen, teacher, educator, director, scholar, and administrator. Originally known as Stadium II Theatre, it has served as one of the two main stages for Ohio State Theatre since 1972. Stadium II was named after the former Stadium Theatre; an arena stage located at Gate 10 of the Ohio Stadium, and one of America's first university-community summer theatres. Roy Bowen was among the directors when it opened in 1950. He directed the first original play presented in the Stadium II Theatre (Burton Russell's Low on High), and his production of Lawrence and Lee's Jabberwock opened the Thurber Theatre. Roy Bowen directed over 150 plays for The Ohio State University, Players Theatre, and other performing groups during an active career spanning more than 60 years.