It’s a lie — or is it? Spinning Tree’s ‘Shipwrecked!’ challenges the imagination

A fantastical tale of adventure on the high seas, a narrow escape from Aboriginal cannibals and other exploits Down Under captivated the world in 1899.

But when the narrative was found to be a hoax, its author became forever known as “the greatest liar on earth.”

So, naturally, it was the perfect story to put onstage.

“Shipwrecked! The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself)” will let audiences decide for themselves what the truth really is when Spinning Tree Theatre presents the vaudevillian-style play, opening Thursday.

January is a big month for professional theater in Kansas City. With the holiday shows packed away, theaters around town are opening a slate of productions. Last week, Kansas City Actors Theatre introduced the drama “My Old Lady.” Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre studies sexism and science in “Photograph 51,” also opening Thursday (see accompanying story). Quality Hill Playhouse and the Living Room and Coterie theaters all launch productions in the coming days (see below).

Kansas City Repertory Theatre follows suit next week with the musical “Side by Side by Sondheim,” and the Unicorn Theatre will open the suspenseful “How to Use a Knife.”

This isn’t the first time Spinning Tree has tested the boundaries of truth and fiction with “Shipwrecked!”; the company last performed this show by Donald Margulies four years ago.

“So much of the work is done already, which frees you up to find the new things,” said Charles Fugate, who returns to the role of Louis. “You know what works and what doesn’t work, and it lets you focus on what can be new and what can be deeper as well.”

Those who saw the show four years ago need not stay away; although two of the actors are the same, a new director brings a different touch to a show so heavily based in reinterpretation and imagination. In addition to her established rapport with Fugate (the two were last seen together in the Living Room’s “Annapurna”), director Vanessa Severo said she has unintentionally brought a child’s eye to the show. She’s inspired by her daughter, who found more joy this past Christmas playing with an empty cardboard box than with her new toys.

“It made me think of this show and how you have these found objects, and they have more life to them because your imagination is getting involved instead of the object doing the work for you,” she said. “I like this play because it will be kind of like opening a book. … It’s going to challenge the audience to have to use their mind and see the story for themselves, and everyone will see something different.”

To aid in that imaginative feeling, the set of the show is bare bones. A rope, for example, will be just a rope but also a jellyfish. Part of the challenge comes in the physicality needed from the three actors. Co-stars Bob Linebarger and Megan Herrera play dozens of characters each. Herrera even mimes being attacked by an octopus, using a sheet as the eight-legged creature, which Severo promises will be “pretty humorous.”

For Fugate, the demands of the role can be taxing, especially because he remains onstage for the entire 90 minutes of the one-act show. Not only are the acrobatics tough (“I have no idea how I did this last time,” he said), but for most of the time he’s strictly interacting with the audience as a storyteller. When Louis’ story is called into question, Fugate said, he has to make sure he remains relatable to the audience.

“Even if — and it’s an if in my mind — everything he said was a lie, why is it still important that he did what he did?” Fugate said. “It sort of becomes a reflection of ‘What is truth? What is the point of storytelling? What do we leave behind, except the stories that we tell?’ ”

“There’s magic in life; there’s truth, sometimes, even in something that may not be factual.”

Also opening this week:

▪ “Shearwater” runs through Jan. 29 at the Living Room Theatre. In a world premiere workshop production of a play by KC native Victor Wishna, a young writer is tasked with creating a memoir for an eccentric widow and soon finds out that her life story is not quite what it seems. See TheLivingRoomKC.com.

▪ “I Got Rhythm,” Friday through Feb. 19 at Quality Hill Playhouse. The song and dance celebration of Hollywood and Bollywood classic musical numbers will include “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” and other standards. See QualityHillPlayhouse.com.

▪ “Hana’s Suitcase,” Tuesday through Feb. 12 at the Coterie. In this National Endowment for the Arts-winning production, in partnership with UMKC, the children’s theater tells the story of a Holocaust survivor and her students, who aim to track down information about a suitcase from Auschwitz and the fate of its owner, a young girl named Hana. See TheCoterie.org.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 11:00 AM with the headline "It’s a lie — or is it? Spinning Tree’s ‘Shipwrecked!’ challenges the imagination."