The opening production in the 2026-2027 Production Season in the NIU School of Theatre Dance is Men on Boats, a 2017 comedy adventure by playwright Jaclyn Backhaus that tells the “true-ish” story of John Wesley Powell’s expedition to map the Colorado River in 1896.
This production of Men on Boats features neither men or boats. As an all non-male cast takes on the story in a unique setting. Director Bethany Mangum-Oles said she asked herself the question, “Who gets to write history, gets to conquer and gets remembered? This sort of meta-quality forces us to look at the myth of American West through a contemporary lens.”
Mangum-Oles said the setting they settled on helped unlock how to best tell the story. “We have chosen to set our production in an attic space,” she said. “An attic is an archive for forgotten things, old trunks, discarded histories, and childhood imaginations. By placing this huge outdoor river expedition inside a cramped, dusty attic, we embrace a distinct ‘let’s play’ aesthetic. We use the junk around us along with our vibrant imaginations, to build these boats and chart the maps, looking at fragments of the past to piece together a future. One to be examined.”
Men on Boats opens Friday, September 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stevens Building’s Black Box Theatre. Tickets are available online at go.niu.edu/arts-events. Performances at 7:30 p.m. will also be staged on Saturday, September 26, Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2, with 2 p.m. matinees, Sunday, September 27 and Saturday, October 3. NIU students can attend at no cost with a pre-reserved ticket.
For a look at the full program including credits, and bios for cast and the production team visit niuarts.com/men-on-boats.
