Men on Boats at Des Moines Playhouse

The year: 1869. The crew: a maniacally talkative youth, an old Civil War vet who doesn’t like people, an overexcited Brit, and a hunter who wears only beaver skins, to name just a few. Led by John Wesley Powell, a one-armed crazy-faced explorer with an excitable soul, this motley bunch faces treacherous Colorado River rapids and the unexplored American frontier. Governed by ambition, hunger, and downright insanity, they must decide when to press on and when to give in to the dangers of exploration.

Note: This play contains adult language.

Authors

• Jaclyn Backhaus