a trailblazing adventure

Jacyln Backhaus' critically acclaimed, gender-blurring comedy Men On Boats comes to Clarence Brown Theatre this spring, telling its mostly true story of one extraordinary expedition to the Grand Canyon in 1869. There's just one thing; there are no men or boats. But that doesn't stop a rip-roaring adventure!

What is the story?

While the title may suggest a firmly male-dominated swashbuckler of an adventure, there is nary a Y chromosome in sight. Backhaus spins an epic 21st-century take on the classic 19th-century explorer story, where one-armed Civil War vet John Wesley Powell leads a band of strapping men through the adrenaline-filled twists and turns of the as-yet-unexplored Wyoming wilderness. Yet these prime masculine specimens are played by a cast of female-identifying and gender-fluid actors, who add a subversive helping of subtext to the myth of the great American Man in this laugh-out-loud, captivating theatrical gem.