ON THE WATER: This cross-gender performance of Jaclyn Backhaus's script is hitting the water. Photo credit: Scott Lasky.

Real history and unreal characters bring real laughs. Jaclyn Backhaus’s MEN ON BOATS recounts real-life explorer John Wesley Powell’s 1869 traversal of the Colorado River with a cast of female and non-binary actors. For fans of Hamilton who wish they’d made fun of the founding fathers a bit more, Backhaus’s cross-gender versions of historical figures make for biting satire of the US’s obsession with figures of discovery and conquest—or, one could say, Man-ifest Destiny. Palo Alto Players offers a “Pick Your Price Night” one evening before the official opening, and the Feb. 10 performance also includes a talkback with the director and cast.

Men on Boats
Opens Fri, Various Times, $30+
Lucie Stern Theater, Palo Alto