About the Play:

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself) is a full-length adventure by Donald Margulies. Inspired by the real-life story and stories of adventurer and publicly humiliated historical figure Louis de Rougemont, this fantastical theatrical adventure is sure to bring out every audience member's inner child in a story about "the power of storytelling."

Shipwrecked! is a family-friendly frolic inspired by the real-life autobiography of Louis de Rougemont, a 19th century French explorer who wrote about his incredible 30 years of adventures in the Australian outback after being lost at sea. An intrepid explorer who became an instant celebrity upon his return to civilization, the play brings the adventurous Louis De Rougemont center stage to tell us his amazing tales of bravery, survival and exotic locales that left 19th century England spellbound. But was it real or just a figment of his imagination? Will he be vindicated or will his reputation be ruined forever? Dare to be whisked away in a fascinating account of the high seas, populated by exotic islanders, flying wombats, giant sea turtles and a monstrous man-eating octopus. Shipwrecked! examines how far we're willing to blur the line between fact and fiction in order to leave our mark on the world.

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself) premiered to rave reviews in 2007 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California. The play went on to productions at the Geffen Playhouse and Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven in 2008. The play opened Off-Broadway in 2009 at Primary Stages (59E59 Theaters). It received the 2009 Outer Critics' Circle Award nomination for Outstanding New Play.

Cast: 1 female (doubling), 2 male

What people say:

"Recreating the pleasures of nineteenth-century platform entertainment with a tart contemporary twist, Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! offers a self-promoting fabulist a forum to inform and persuade, and it delights in both respects." — Variety

"The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies scampers to the defense of good old-fashioned yarn spinning with Shipwrecked!. The breathless story of a Victorian gentleman [and] seafaring wanderer springs to life like a theatrical pop-up book. The audience is left to judge whether he is an inspirational figure touched by imaginative genius or a mere con man. We can also consider the possibility that the hero of this true story based on an untrue story is a little of each." — New York Times

"Margulies gives a sympathetic nod to the audacious autobiographer's creative overreach in Shipwrecked!, a deft literate narrative folded into a vaudevillian romp with radio theater overtones. Colorful [and] compassionate speculations on the real-life deficiencies and pain that may have been at the root of Louis' need for self-aggrandizement." — Los Angeles Times

About the Playwright:

Donald Margulies is an American playwright, screenwriter, and a professor of English and Theater Studies at Yale University. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2000 for his play, Dinner With Friends. Other plays include Pulitzer Prize finalists Sight Unseen and Collected Stories. He has also developed screenplays for HBO, NBC, Paramount, Propaganda, Touchstone, Warner Bros., TriStar and Universal.