Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts photo Members of the cast of Men on Boats rehearse earlier this month in the McArdle Theatre. The comedy opened Tuesday and will be performed at 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow.

HOUGHTON — Men On Boats tells the ‘mostly’ true story of ten explorers who set off in 1869 to chart the Green and Colorado Rivers under the guidance of John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War Veteran.

This satirical retelling of historical events is made even more interesting by the author’s insistence that all characters are to be played by anyone except white males, who made up the entirety of the actual expedition. This casting twist puts the words and actions of the characters into a different context, providing plenty of laughs as well as extremely touching moments.

This is Director Nich Radcliffe’s fourth production at Michigan Tech and after the previous success of last season’s “Glass Menagerie” and “Sweeny Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, expectations are high. “I hope the audience leaves the theatre laughing,” says Radcliffe, “And I hope that laughter makes it easier to be honest with themselves, about the world, and about the place and the voice everyone deserves in it.”

The comedy opened Tuesday and will be performed again tonight and Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the McArdle Theatre in the Walker Arts and Humanities Building on the Michigan Tech campus.

An in depth look at the production can be found in the November, 13 edition of the Daily Mining Gazette.