Join us for a conversation with playwright Jaclyn Backhaus, whose “off-the-canyon-walls funny” (Variety) play Men on Boats is an adventurous reimagining of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Expedition that charted the Green and Colorado Rivers through the Grand Canyon. Men on Boats challenges traditional historical narrative while humorously exploring pertinent modern themes.

In the play, all the men are played by women, adding a rich layer of commentary that elevates this from being simple entertainment into an essential work of art for our times. Backhaus is a master at writing characters that are accurate to the time in which they live, but also speak larger truths about our current world, such as the nonsensical heterosexual male need to claim land, objects and people as their property, or the eye-roll-inducing notion that men should not allow their feelings to be seen.

In partnership with the Sun Valley Playwright’s Residency.