Ten Thousand Things Theater’s latest production, “Men on Boats,” has the power to make audiences believe the room they’re sitting in is a canyon filled with rushing water.
Running until March 15, the production has all the charm of the theater’s other shows, plus some extra University of Minnesota influences. Both the cast and crew include several University alumni who are bringing the show to life as it travels around the Twin Cities and beyond.
The play loosely follows the events of a real 1869 expedition headed by the one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell. In the play, Powell and his crew comedically brave a river on four boats, rowing through riptides, hunting for food and trying not to lash out at their bothersome shipmates.
Despite what the name may suggest, there are nearly no men in “Men on Boats.” Per the playwright Jaclyn Backhaus’ insistence, the cast consists entirely of people who are not cisgender white men.
Not only does this element spur discussion about masculinity and ownership throughout history, it also brings historically underrepresented voices to the stage.
Ten Thousand Things is no stranger to breaking bounds in theater.
The company performs half of their shows to paying public audiences, while they bring the other half for free to locations where people may not have opportunities to see live, professional theater.
Over the years, they’ve put on free performances in shelters for the unhoused, correctional facilities, low-income centers, after-school programs, women’s shelters and locations in greater Minnesota.
“We’re a lot of people’s first time seeing theater,” said Anya Naylor, the actress who plays Bradley and is a graduate of the University’s BFA acting program. “It’s really cool to see this thing that they maybe thought was lame, or just wasn’t accessible to them before, and see them really connected to that work.”
No matter where they are, Ten Thousand Things keeps their performances the same: performed in the round with an audience on all four sides, minimal sets and costumes, all the lights on and live music.
Their performance model comes with some complications. When doing shows in the community, people’s daily lives and obligations can bleed into the performances.
“You’re doing a very serious Shakespeare soliloquy, but the dining hall staff has to get the dishes washed and get ready to serve the four o’clock meal,” artistic director Caitlin Lowans explained. “They have to do their things, and you just have to learn to fold those outside life aspects into the performance.”
Without a home venue, Ten Thousand Things sets must always be movable. To the show’s costume designer Sarah Bahr, this makes the theater all the more prepared to tackle the unique challenge of staging “Men on Boats”: the characters are constantly, well, on boats.
“They’re always in theater in the round,” Bahr said. “They really rely on the audience to use their imagination to fill in the gaps.”
The cast’s vivid, physical acting helps stir the imagination. They bob in place as though they were afloat and run around the room when rapids carry away their boats. They row so intensely that it feels like their oars are the only things keeping them alive.
“Men on Boats” marks Bahr’s seventh production with Ten Thousand Things. Beyond costumes, she’s previously created sets and props for the theater.
Bahr graduated from the University with an MFA in Design and Technical Theatre. In between productions, she has taught the introductory theater design course as an adjunct professor in the University’s theater department.
Bahr said the MFA program was the perfect place for her. She was able to specialize in costume and scenic design while getting paid to use these skills in the costume shop. It also came with the bonus of teaching.
“I got to meet so many people, the community, directors, artistic directors. It was just a really big connection boost for me,” Bahr said.
Naylor graduated from the BFA acting program in 2023 and has since appeared in a variety of productions across the Twin Cities.
For both Bahr and Naylor, their theater programs set them up for success after graduation.
“The BFA was a lot of work and a lot of discipline,” Naylor said. “It really helped me to juggle having a job, being in a show and auditioning for other things, because it is so much work to keep all those balls in the air.”
“Men on Boats” is an accumulation of theater talent across the Twin Cities.
Under the direction of acclaimed theater artist Joy Dolo, every member of the cast immerses themselves in their characters, threading together a patchwork crew of adventurers. They laugh, drink whiskey, and most importantly, save each other from a rampaging river.
The show’s costuming helps tell this story. From army-issued jackets to pocket squares, each character’s wardrobe hints at their personal histories. They’re topped off — quite literally — by unique hats that nod to their personalities.
It’s a show that calls back to history with a critical, humorous eye. Its messages about coexistence, discovery and community are just as relevant as ever.
