NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, June 3.
PORT TOWNSEND — Courageous swashbuckler or con man?
That is the question the audience must decide for themselves at 7:30 tonight during the opening production of “Shipwrecked!” at the Key City Playhouse, 419 Washington St.
The play is produced by Key City Public Theatre, which bills it as a “high seas adventure populated by a monstrous man-eating octopus, flying wombats, giant sea turtles, cannibals and buried treasure.”
“Shipwrecked!,” set in the 19th Century, centers on the adventures experienced by Louis de Rougemont while shipwrecked on an island in the Coral Sea and living with Australian aborigines.
Rougemont invites the audience to listen to his amazing story of bravery, survival and celebrity, organizers said, adding this audacious autobiographer and entertainer blurs the line between fact and fiction.
“Underneath all the fun and thrills, the show is asking an important question,” said Director Connor Zaft.
“How do the stories we tell shape who we become? What happens when the stories we tell ourselves, and the things we actually do, are at odds?”
The play “celebrates the magic of live theatre while revealing the ways in which we invent ourselves through story, and how our personal narratives shape the stories we tell as a culture,” Zaft said.
Zaft, a recent graduate of Cornish College of the Arts, has joined Key City Public Theatre as an artistic apprentice.
This will be Zaft’s directorial debut.
Zaft promises the audience will be on the edge of their seats.
“More than that, they’ll be climbing up the ship’s mast,” he joked.
The play was written by Donald Margulies, an American playwright and a professor of English and theater studies at Yale University who, in 2000, received a Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play, “Dinner with Friends.”
In 2009, “Shipwrecked!” received the Outer Critics’ Circle Award nomination for Outstanding New Play.
“Shipwrecked!” stars Eric Ray Anderson — making his Key City Public Theatre debut as Louis de Rougemont — Ana Maria Campoy and Austin DeLuna.
Anderson and Campoy have performed extensively statewide, both having recently performed at Seattle’s Mirror Stage, with Anderson in, “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” and Campoy in, “The Penelopiad.”
DeLuna acts at both Key City Public Theatre and at Port Townsend High School.
“I really think the work that everyone is putting into this show is top notch,” Zaft said, adding the performers have practiced for nearly three months to prepare for their roles.
“If you enjoy great acting, brilliant writing and wonderful design, I’d recommend this show,” Zaft said.
“But then again, I’m pretty biased since I get to work with all the great people doing those fabulous things. We have a wide range of experience levels and ages, but they all bring great energy and ideas to the project, and are talented storytellers each.”
Anderson, Zaft said, “is a seasoned and respected veteran of professional acting, Ana Maria Campoy has an undeniable charisma as a performer and Austin DeLuna’s energy and presence keeps up with both of them while barely breaking a sweat.”
Prepping the props, set
The production staff took painstaking efforts to create the various sea beasts scenes throughout the play, Zaft said.
Preparing the props was “definitely a challenge, especially when we don’t want to be entirely literal about all of them,” he said.
“I want to provide some magic and wonder as well, so there’s a balance. I’m lucky in that I have many smart, talented people on stage and backstage bringing loads of good ideas to the table.”
The costumes, Zaft said, are “mostly pulled from our own stock, and certain elements were made by our costume designer, Christine Jacobson. All the sea creatures were made in-house as well by our props coordinator, Sam Cavallaro, with a very special contribution by Libby Urner Wennstrom.”
David Langley designed the set, Zaft continued.
Tickets
“Shipwrecked!” runs through July 3.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening performances begin at 7:30.
Sunday matinees, scheduled for Sunday, June 12 and June 19, begin at 2:30 p.m.
Sunday’s matinee will be a pay what you wish performance, sponsored by the Port Townsend Arts Commission.
Tickets for other presentations are $20 for Thursdays and Sundays, $24 for Fridays and Saturdays and $10 for students at any performance.
Tickets are available at keycitypublictheatre.org, or by calling 360-385-5278.
