Prepare to be swept away in a high seas adventure, populated by a monstrous man-eating octopus, flying wombats, giant sea turtles, cannibals, and buried treasure—“a story all the more remarkable because every word of it is true.”
Key City Public Theatre presents “Shipwrecked! The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as told by himself), an epic entertainment by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies opening Friday, June 3, 2016. Originally produced at the South Coast Repertory in 2007, the play made its New York debut at Primary Stages in 2009, and now, KCPT brings it to Port Townsend.
The Key City production stars Eric Ray Anderson making his KCPT debut as Louis de Rougemont with Ana Maria Campoy and Austin DeLuna (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) with fifteen roles each. Eric and Ana have performed extensively throughout Washington State. Both have recently graced the stage of Seattle’s Mirror Stage, with Eric portraying Everett K. Olson in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, and Ana as Melantho/Maid in The Penelopiad. Austin is a local actor, who despite his youth, has managed to make himself a fixture of the local theater scene, both at KCPT and at Port Townsend High School.
The adventurous Louis de Rougemont invites you to hear his amazing story of bravery, survival and celebrity that left nineteenth-century England spellbound. This audacious autobiographer and entertainer blurs the line between fact and fiction, enrapturing the audience in a story of the high seas. One part Vaudeville and one part Robinson Crusoe, Shipwrecked! examines how far we’re willing to blur the line between fact and fiction in order to leave our mark on the world. The New York Times says “The breathless story of a seafaring wanderer springs to life like a theatrical pop-up book.” Bob Verini of Variety writes, “Shipwrecked! offers a self-promoting fabulist a forum to inform and persuade, and it delights in both respects.”
Director Connor Zaft says “Shipwrecked! 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.” A recent graduate of Cornish College of the Arts, Zaft is joining the theatre as an artistic apprentice. Shipwrecked! is his directorial debut with KCPT, and he will return in October to direct 4,000 Miles.
Shipwrecked! runs from June 2 through July 3 at the Key City Playhouse on 419 Washington Street, Port Townsend, with a preview performance on Thursday, June 2 and Opening Night on Friday, June 3. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (June 26 and July 3) evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday matinees (June 5, June 12 and June 19) begin at 2:30 p.m. Tickets ($20 on Thursday/Sunday, $24 on Friday/Saturday, $10 for students any performance) are available at keycitypublictheatre.org, or by calling 360-385-KCPT. Pay What You Wish Performances will be Thursday, June 2 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 5 at 2:30 p.m.