Shackleton, The Untold Story

Shackleton, The Untold Story by Lawrence Howard, Armchair Adventurer, Portland Story Theater

[PORTLAND, OR‒December 15, 2015] ‒ There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love and are obsessed with the story of Ernest Shackleton, and those who just haven’t heard it yet. This January, the good people of Portland, Oregon will have their chance to join the first category when Portland Story Theater presents the world premiere their new show, “Shackleton, The Untold Story.” The epic production will take place at the Alberta Abbey, 126 NE Alberta Street, on January 23rd and again on January 30th.

Advance Tickets: Portland Story Theater
Tickets $15 in advance | $18 at the door | $5 Arts for All PDX
Young adults 15+ OK if accompanied by a parent or guardian

Shackleton, The Untold Story

Portland Story Theater presents Lawrence Howard, Armchair Adventurer
Saturday, January 23, 2016 and Saturday, January 30, 2016
7 pm Improvisational Jazz (Doors Open)
8 pm Stories
Alberta Abbey
126 NE Alberta (2 blocks west of MLK)

Portland Story Theater’s “Armchair Adventurer,” Lawrence Howard, has often told of how Sir Ernest Shackleton’s dream of being the first man to traverse the Antarctic continent from one side to the other became a nightmare when his ship was trapped in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea and crushed by the pressure of the ice. Since 2008, Portland Story Theater’s epic one-man show, “Shackleton’s Antarctic Nightmare,” has sold out four separate runs in Portland and another off-Broadway in New York. The story of how Shackleton and the 27 men of the Weddell Sea party survived on the ice for over a year and a half and eventually came to safety is an epic tale of hardship, courage, and endurance.

But there is another piece of the Shackleton story, little known and rarely told. This year, for the first time ever, the Armchair Adventurer will tell the harrowing tale of the Ross Sea Party — those valiant men on the other side of the continent who gave everything they had to lay down the caches of food and fuel along the route — caches that, as it turned out, Shackleton never used.

This is a story that speaks to something very deep within the human psyche. It’s about a glorious, glorious failure. It’s about fortitude and determination. It’s about duty, and honor. It’s about finding vast reserves of strength we didn’t know we had within us. It’s about the way human beings respond to hardship and adversity. It’s about the indomitable power of the human spirit.
This show will once again be part of the city-wide Fertile Ground theater festival.

Launched in 2004, Portland Story Theater is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to making the narrative arts an integral part of Oregon’s rich cultural identity and is committed to bringing an authentic story and theater experience to inspire, challenge and expand a sense of community among people living throughout the state. www.portlandstorytheater.org/