Shipwrecked! - Actors Theatre of Louisville

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The Real Louis de Rougemont In 1898, Louis de Rougemont burst into the British news with an amazing story of 30 years of adventure in the Australian Outback. However, de Rougemont’s tales proved too incredible for some, and newspapers began to investigate his background. What they discovered shocked the public: Louis de Rougemont was not the man he claimed to be! Louis de Rougemont was really Henri Louis Grien, a poor Swiss immigrant to Australia. Originally the butler to the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia (at whose dinner parties Grien overheard detailed accounts of Outback expeditions), Henri Louis settled down in Sydney. There, he started a family and attempted various money-making schemes such as marketing a faulty deep-diving suit. He also continued to collect adventure stories. The Real Donald Margulies Born in 1954, Donald Margulies is a playwright from Brooklyn. His love of theatre was fostered early on by his father who, despite of his low income, found a way to take his children to see plays and musicals on Broadway. Margulies initially studied visual arts at the Pratt Institute but transferred to the State University of New York to pursue playwriting. By 1992 his career began to soar as he won an OBIE Award for Best New American Play for Sight Unseen. His other works include The Loman Family Picnic; Pitching to the Star; Zimmer; Luma Park; What's Wrong With This Picture?; The Model Apartment; Broken Sleep; and Dinner With Friends, which premiered at Actors Theatre and won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize. Margulies learned early in his writing career that writing isn't confined to the typical nine-to-five work week. It can happen any time and in any place. Sometimes that creative spark might not strike for days. He says, "It's part of the mysteriousness of writing and I find that I can't force it" Margulies on Shipwrecked! After one too many failed enterprises, Grien quit Australia for London and spent his days at the British Museum reading books on the Australian Outback and the South Pacific. Months later, he appeared at The Wide World Magazine with a new name—Louis de Rougemont—and the amazing tales that would rocket him to stardom. “Truth is stranger than fiction, But de Rougemont is stranger than both” --The Wide World Magazine Grien’s fame was his downfall—his abandoned family and duped customers recognized his picture in the newspaper and came forward with accounts of the real Louis. Though publicly discredited, Grien continued to appear in theatres as Louis de Rougemont, offering demonstrations of his turtle-riding skills as proof of his authenticity. Interest in de Rougemont soon waned, and Grien disappeared from the public eye. In 1921, he died a beggar, going by yet another name: Louis Redmond. He currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where he teaches playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. "The magic of theatre is its power to astonish, but astonishment can occur only if the audience is willing to suspend its disbelief. My aim with Shipwrecked!… was to capture the attention of the hidden child in everyone in my audience. I wanted to write a play that would make no attempt to replicate onstage what television and movies do, but would instead celebrate the uniqueness of theatre. My impulse was to… tell stories that reflect our world or create new ones that can enlighten, amuse, transport, make you forget, or force you to remember." 4

Call of the Sea The mysteries of the ocean have captured our imaginations for centuries. Stories of tragic shipwrecks, mysterious creatures, looting pirates, and marooned sailors and even royalty have been told as far back as Homer’s The Odyssey. No matter the century, we can’t seem to resist fantastic tales of adventures on the high seas. The Odyssey by Homer (circa. 800 BC) Homer’s epic poem tells the story of Odysseus, a Greek hero who struggles against the sea, the fates and even the Gods as he spends 20 years trying to make his way home after the Trojan War. Twelfth Night & The Tempest by William Shakespeare (1601, 1610) Even Shakespeare was fascinated by shipwrecks. In Twelfth Night, a shipwreck leads to confusion, mistaken identities and romance. The Tempest strikes a more fantastic tone, with a group of castaways subjected to the will of the sorcerer Prospero. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719) Crusoe is often thought of as the definitive tale of shipwreck. This story has everything, from wild escapes to struggling for survival to ravenous cannibals. Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (1812) Wyss tells the story of a whole family who shipwrecks in the East Indies as they are nearing Australia. The story was later adapted into one of the most famous TV shows of the 1960s—Lost in Space. Gilligan’s Island (1964) “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale.” This goofy sixties television sitcom chronicles seven stranded castaways of the SS Minnow, who for three seasons attempt rescue from an uncharted isle. Titanic (Movie 1997) A timeless tearjerker, and record-setter for most Academy Awards, Titanic sets an ill-fated romance between rich girl and street-smart boy on board the disastrous iceberg-colliding journey across the Atlantic. EXTRA!! EXTRA!! In the Victorian Age, true shipwreck stories were serialized in magazines like The Wide World Magazine, adding to the mystery, suspense and drama of life at sea. Alexander Selkirk was marooned on Isla Juan Fernandez (a small island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile) from 1704 until 1709. When Selkirk’s ship docked at Juan Fernandez, he and the crew found two castaways already living happily and healthily on the island. Selkirk was no fan of his ship’s captain and, seeing that the castaways survived well on the island, Selkirk stayed, expecting the island would soon be visited by another ship. He was wrong. For almost five years, Selkirk lived a simple life—eating goat flesh, living in a hut made of driftwood and awaiting rescue. Henry Pitman, seafaring surgeon, was sold into slavery as a traitor to the English crown. He escaped with seven other men and set sail for the Dutch island of Curacao only to end up stranded on an island called Salt Tortuga. Upon arrival, the group encountered a band of pirates who burned Pitman’s ship, leaving him stranded on the island. Like real-life Robinson Crusoes they dried turtle meat for the upcoming winter and mended their clothes with fishbone needles. The island was eventually visited by a second group of pirates. During an attempted mutiny, Pitman and his men joined forces with the pirate captain and successfully subdued the insurrection. As thanks for helping to regain control of the ship, the captain granted Pitman and his men passage to New England on his ship. 5

Page 1 and 2: Play GUIDE! FEBRUARY 3 - 28

Page 3: Synopsis/Character List An old man

Page 7 and 8: Theatre in Louis' Day At the turn o

Page 9 and 10: Bridgework Building Connections Bet

Page 11 and 12: Other Reading/Glossary Terms and Vo

Page 13 and 14: Writing for Portfolio Personal Writ

Page 15 and 16: Upcoming Events Two hundred years a

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