Riding the wild currents in ingenious ‘Men on Boats’

As the musical “Hamilton” has demonstrated, the Founding Fathers of this country did not have to be portrayed as the white men with English roots they actually were back in the 18th century, but could be re-imagined in early 21st century mode to reflect the reality of a racially diverse American society.So it is not much of a stretch that in “Men on Boats,” an Off Broadway hit now receiving its regional premiere by Chicago’s American Theater Company (ATC), playwright Jaclyn Backhaus takes a fanciful look at “the true (ish)” history of the 10 adventurers who set out to explore the Grand Canyon in an 1869 government-commissioned expedition, and that the men who forged the rapids are played by what director Will Davis describes as “a gender fluid cast of women and folks otherwise defined.”

Of course, if you overlook the true pathfinders of this country (the Native Americans, to whom Backhaus pays winningly sardonic homage at one point), and if you can move past the results of a certain recent presidential election, you will realize that women were always a formidable pioneering force in this country. After all, who was it who gave birth to all those babies in the back of the Conestoga wagons that rattled their way West?

So, call it revisionist history, or wishful thinking, or what you will. And given that the theater is all about role-playing, anyone can wear the pants (although just for the record, a slew of Victorian women explorers managed to do everything in dresses and bloomers).

The principal conceit in Backhaus’ play (which Davis, now ATC’s artistic director, also directed in New York) is its gender flipping, and while this can be amusing, it also can grow tiresome in its campiness. The most sensational aspect of the show — and the real reason to catch it — is the endlessly ingenious use of movement as the driving force of the storytelling. And Davis’ remarkable Chicago cast is such a dazzlingly fine-tuned ensemble that you might think they’ve been working together for years, though that is not the case. Their work is heightened by the brilliance of William Boles’ radically raked, deep-perspective set, and Brandon Wardell’s magical lighting.

To be sure, epic perilous journeys (whether in pursuit of a giant whale or the ice-encrusted South Pole) have been enacted on many stages before. But there is something special about the way the whole geography of this journey is conjured, so that it becomes a sort of mock-macho ballet version of the story told in the journal kept by John Wesley Powell. A one-armed Civil War veteran, Powell led the perilous three-month geological expedition down the Green and Colorado rivers that climaxed with the first recorded passage of white men through the entirety of the Grand Canyon.

The explorers initially set out on four boats (suggested by nothing more than jointed cleverly deployed two-by-fours), though along the way some will capsize and become broken as they are propelled through wild whirlpools and raging waterfalls, and at times must be carried over land. Food supplies will dwindle (matters of eating and drinking are among the most engaging moments in the show). Personalities will clash. Snakes will slither. And exhaustion and fear will take hold. And while a few will take their leave, many will remain intrepid.Kelli Simpkins, the tall, reed-thin actress with an easily androgynous bearing and brainy aura, effortlessly taps into the eccentric, determined Powell, while Kelly O’Sullivan plays William Dunn, Powell’s most formidable partner on the expedition, but the person who finally suffers a crisis of faith. Lauren Sivak is a hoot as Old Shady, the oddball tough guy who sings about fish. And BrittneyLove Smith is the ebullient innocent whose comic rescue of Powell is done (almost literally) by the seat of her pants.Stephanie Shum is the quirky cook. Lawren Carter is the confident cartographer. Erin Barlow plays wealthy Frank Goodman, the delicate Englishman who knows his limits, and Arti Ishak, Avi Roque and Sarai Rodriguez supply their zesty personalities throughout.Backhaus’ writing is sharp and economical, and ultimately inseparable from the show’s superb choreographic language. The play has a grand moment of triumph, but it also comes with an intriguing epilogue that describes the fates of all those who made it to the end. Not surprisingly, the glory of it all is not equally shared.