January, 2014, Shackleton Returns

It's the 100th Anniversary of the 1914 voyage of The Endurance and Lawrence Howard returns with another rendition of Shackleton's Antarctic Nightmare.

The Armchair Adventurer Series

In the beginning, there was Shackleton, the first in Lawrence Howard's stories about Antarctica. Then there was Mawson's Mettle, followed by Polar Opposites. The fourth installment in the series is John "Babbacombe" Lee, in which our hero - or is he a villian? - cheats the hangman three times.

John "Babbacombe" Lee

Portland Story Theater's acclaimed Armchair Adventurer series takes a sharp detour from Antarctica to present John "Babbacombe" Lee, the true story of "the man they could not hang." Lawrence Howard, creator of the Armchair Adventurer Series, brings his latest true, historical story to the stage, the world premiere of John "Babbacombe" Lee. The time is November, 1884. The place is the sleepy village of Babbacombe, on the Devonshire coast of England. An elderly spinster is brutally murdered and her body set on fire. Suspicion falls upon her manservant, John Lee. A three-ring circus of a trial ensues. Lee is convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to be hanged, but on the day of the execution the trap doors of the gallows fail to open not once, not twice, but three times. Was it mechanical failure or divine intervention? Was Lee really innocent, as he claimed? And if he didn't do it, who did??

This is provocative mix of story and theater.

Shackleton's Antarctic Nightmare:
The 1914 Voyage of The Endurance.

Lawrence Howard launched the Armchair Adventurer series in 2008, mesmerizing audiences with his original epic tale of Antarctic adventure. Audiences demanded more, and it returned in 2009, 2012 to sold-out shows at Portland Story Theater. Shackleton's Antarctic Nightmare: The 1914 Voyage of The Endurance is the gripping, heart-breaking, true story of British explorer, Ernest Shackleton, and the Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914. Shackleton's dream of being the first to cross the Antarctic continent on foot became a nightmare when his valiant ship, the Endurance, was crushed in the pack-ice of the Weddell Sea. The story of how he and the twenty-seven men of the expedition survived on the ice and eventually came to safety is an epic tale of hardship and suffering, of courage, determination and fortitude.

Polar Opposites: Amundsen, Scott, and
the Race For The Pole

Polar Opposites: Amundsen, Scott, and the Race For The Pole recounts heroic and tragic events in Antarctica one hundred years ago. Scott and his four companions fought their way to the Pole only to find the Norwegian flag flying there: Amundsen had beaten him by five weeks. Crushed by disappointment, utterly exhausted and short on food and fuel, Scott and his companions froze and starved to death on the return journey, just eleven miles from a huge cache of provisions and supplies. This a tale of the agony and the ecstasy, of accomplishment and failure, of a glorious victory overshadowed by an even more glorious defeat.

Mawson's Mettle:
Alone On The Wide Shores Of The World.

Mawson's Mettle is another true, epic tale of Antarctic adventure written and told by Lawrence Howard. Part of Fertile Ground, this world-premiere is about Douglas Mawson, a veteran of one of Shackleton's earlier voyages, who led an Australian expedition to the frozen continent in 1911.

Out sledging with two other men, Mawson was thrown into peril when one of the sledges -- along with the six best dogs, most of the food and equipment, and one of his companions -- was lost in a deep crevasse. After his second companion and the rest of the dogs died, Mawson struggled against freezing temperatures, 80 mile-per-hour winds, loneliness, grief, illness and starvation, pulling his one remaining sled for hundreds of miles.

Mawson's Mettle is an epic story of survival and determination and courage to rival the Shackleton saga. Lawrence Howard gives another mesmerizing performance that will move you to the depths of your soul.

Listen to an Interview with Dmae Roberts, KBOO Stage and Studio