Riverside’s new artistic director turns back time with show rooted in imagination

In this high-tech age of instant access and gratification, Riverside Theatre is rebooting its 2015-16 season with low-tech ingenuity.

'Shipwrecked! An Entertainment — The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself)' is not only a mouthful, it's a 'monster,' says director Sam Osheroff. It's full of monsters, too. Giant sea turtles, a man-eating octopus, flying wombats — all elements of the 19th-century adventurer's wild 'true' tales that captured the fancy of Victorian England.

Three people handle all the roles, with Paul Riopelle playing Rougemont throughout, and the other two scurrying about quickly switching characters, accents, costumes and even genders and species. All are seasoned pros. Riopelle and Joe Osheroff (Player 2) have extensive experience on New York stages, as well as national touring plays, television and film. Actress and educator Katherine Slaven of Cedar Rapids (Player 1), is a familiar face on Corridor stages and will embark on a national tour with Working Group Theatre's award-winning show, 'Out of Bounds,' in the spring.

Osheroff also happens to be the director's younger brother. He had just wrapped the national tour of 'War Horse' when another actor originally cast in 'Shipwrecked!' had to drop out because of a family emergency.

Working with his brother is just one of the reasons director Osheroff is enjoying riding the waves of this show.

Crossover appeal

'I really love this script,' he says. '(Donald) Margulies wrote it in response to some of the mega-theater that was coming out in the late '90s and 2000s — the giant spectacle shows on Broadway where theater was really getting confused and thinking it was the movies.

'He decided to write an old-fashioned storytelling-based play where all the effects are low-tech that happen onstage. There's no effort to disguise the trickery, so you get to see all the strings and wires being pulled. All the sound effects are done by the actors onstage,' he says.

'It's really an homage to theatrical invention. There's nothing slick about it at all. We use a handful of props over and over again in different ways.'

It's a family-friendly theatrical outing, appealing to adults and youths for different reasons, in the manner of Pixar movies or old-fashioned Saturday morning cartoons.

'It's a really exciting play that's great for all levels,' Osheroff says. 'It's a fun adventure story, it's a great celebration of theatrical low-tech invention, and then, on top of that, there's this whole other complex comedy for adults that examines the nature of truth-telling and how our stories are important in our lives.

'It's got a number of different layers in it that I think audiences will find really fun and exciting.'

With a small cast and minimal scenery, it's a perfect fit for Riverside, where Osheroff, 46, assumed the role of artistic director Aug. 1. Co-founders Ron Clark and Jody Hovland have stepped down from their day-to-day duties, but will continue to appear onstage occasionally, and Clark will direct the season-ending show, 'Dancing Lessons.'

'In terms of budget, three actors is always great,' says Osheroff, who traveled from his previous home in Pensacola, Fla., to direct 'Red,' the 2014 season opener.

'It fits really beautifully on our stage,' he says of 'Shipwrecked!' 'It's the right-sized show for us. It brings something new — it brings a level of theatricality that hasn't been on the stage before.'

While the actors will be working hard, creating scenery and settings out of ordinary objects such as ladders and blankets and buckets, Osheroff says this is the kind of show where the audience can just 'go along for the ride.'

'It's not going to be tough for them. They're going to get swept up in it right away,' he says. 'There's a million delightful things that pop up. It was described by the New York Times as 'a theatrical pop-up book,' and it is like that. Things just keep showing up — little Easter eggs. They just have to go with it and accept the convention and just have a really good time.

'(It hearkens) back when theater was theater and didn't need to compete with television or movies — it could be purely theatrical. We have to give you the notion of the illusion, but we don't have to complete the illusion,' he says. 'When you see 'Star Wars' they give you the complete illusion. In this play, we give you enough that your imagination picks it up and goes, 'Oh, I know what that is. That's great.''

New role

Osheroff, his wife, Kris Danford, their daughter, Stella, 4, and newborn son, Oliver, moved to Iowa City in late June 'about 10 minutes' after the baby arrived. 'He was born on a Monday and we moved on Friday,' Osheroff says. 'He's doing fine. The rest of us are recuperating.'

He says Danford, a musical theater professor, mostly is home with the baby right now, but is picking up a few classes at the University of Iowa, working as a dialect coach at Riverside, will be directing a show at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids in the spring, and doing some acting later in the year.

Osheroff, who also taught college classes in Florida, is turning his attention away from academia and into his new Riverside role.

Audiences won't see his administration and organizational efforts, but they will notice a spruced-up lobby. Down the road, they also will reap the benefits of new business partnerships Osheroff is exploring.

His ultimate goal is 'to put Riverside Theatre on a national map and start to make Iowa City a destination theater city.'

In the meantime, he says Stella is 'really enjoying her new schools. We're all happy to be in Iowa City and are waiting for the dust to settle' before venturing out to explore their new surroundings.

GET OUT!

• What: 'Shipwrecked! An Entertainment — The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself)'
• Where: Riverside Theatre, 213 N. Gilbert St., Iowa City
• When: Friday (9/25) to Oct. 18; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10 and 17; post-show talkbacks Sept. 27 and Oct. 9
• Tickets: $12 to $30, Riverside Box Office, (319) 338-7672 or boxoffice@riversidetheatre.org