The prestigious Explorers Club is in crisis: their acting president wants to admit a women and their bartender is terrible. True, this female candidate is brilliant, beautiful, and has discovered a legendary lost city, but the decision to let in a woman could shake the very foundation of the British Empire.
Play title: The Explorers Club
Author (s): Nell Benjamin
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Publication Date: 2014 (Dramatists Play Service, Inc. )
Genre: Comedy
Funder: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
https://sloan.org/programs/public-understanding/theater
Primary Discipline: Geography
Scientist (s): None
Source Texts: Unknown
Character Breakdown: 9 Men, 2 Women (doubling)
Lucius Fretway, Phyllida Spotte-Hume/ Countess Glamorgan, Harry Percy, Luigi, Professor Cope, Professor Sloane, Professor Walling, Sir Bernard Humphries, Beebe/Irish Assassin
Setting: London
Time Period: 1879
Synopsis of Play: London, 1879. The prestigious Explorers Club is in crisis: their acting president wants to admit a women and their bartender is terrible. True, this female candidate is brilliant, beautiful, and has discovered a legendary lost city, but the decision to let in a woman could shake the very foundation of the British Empire, and how do you make such a decision without a decent drink? Grab your safety goggles for some very mad science involving deadly cobras, irate Irishmen, and the occasional airship. (play text cover blurb, Dramatists Play Service)
First Performance Date: June 20th, 2013
First Producer: Manhattan Theatre Club
Performance History: The Explorers Club was presented in New York City by Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Many Greenfield, Artistic Producer) at City Center Stage I, opening on June 20th, 2013. It was directed by Marc Bruni; the set design was by Donyale Werle; the costume design was by Anita Yavich; the lighting design was by Philip Rosenberg; the sound design was by Darron L. West; the music was by Laurence O’Keefe; the production stage manager was Joshua Helman.
Links:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-suskin/aisle-view-exploring-the-_b_3474107.html
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/the-explorers-club?intcid=leader
https://variety.com/2013/legit/reviews/legit-review-the-explorers-club-1200500309/
https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/the-explorers-club_65423.html
https://newyorktheater.me/2013/06/20/the-explorers-club-review/
https://nypost.com/2013/06/21/victorian-england-proves-to-be-comic-gold-in-the-explorers-club/
Entered by: Meaghan Yesford
Photo/Visual Research with citations
2013, City Center, Photo: Sara Krulwich/ 2013, City Center, Photo: Sara Krulwich/
The New York Times The New York Times
2013, City Center, Photo: Joan Marcus 2013, City Center, Photo: Joan Marcus
2013, City Center, Photo: Joan Marcus 2013, City Center, Photo: Joan Marcus
2013, City Center, Photo: Joan Marcus 2013, City Center, Photo: Joan Marcus
