In Portland Playhouse's latest production, the ship's the thing.

"Pen/Man/Ship," by Christina Anderson, revolves around a voyage from North America to Africa in 1896. Land surveyor Charles Boyd has been hired to appraise some property in the young nation of Liberia and takes along a crew that includes his grown son, Jacob, who in turn brings along a woman, Ruby, the only female passenger. All are African Americans; their journey across the Atlantic Ocean, reminiscent of the trips that brought their ancestors from the other direction, encompasses betrayal and violence, faith and freedom.

To immerse the audience in the story, Portland Playhouse created a spare, stark set that plays to the strengths of the 100-seat theater, which is inside a century-old building and has quirky dimensions that require sets to be custom-built. For "Pen/Man/Ship," a worn wooden table and two chairs sit in a shallow pool that, come curtain time, is filled with water. Surrounding the pool is wooden decking meant to evoke planks on a ship. Overheard hangs a large white sail that, when activated, flaps as if it were catching the wind.

Thyra Hartshorn, Portland Playhouse's production manager, talked about the ingenious "Pen/Man/Ship" set recently. Here are eight things to know about it.

1. The water symbolizes the Atlantic, Hartshorn said. She called the sail-water combination "a lighting designer's dream" - when the water ripples, the lights catch the ripples and reflect them onto the sail and the walls, "creating this beautiful environment."

2. The 12-by-16-feet pool in the center of the set holds roughly 30 gallons of water, up to 2 inches deep. The actors move about in it barefoot.

3. The pool sits atop a custom-built platform, slightly raked so it will drain. The pool is emptied and refilled daily and the water circulates throughout the show. Portland Playhouse decided not to treat the water with chlorine because that would make the pool more slippery and because heating chlorinated water would create a potentially uncomfortable hot-tub atmosphere, Hartshorn said.

4. One actor is in the pool for about 80 percent of the play, Hartshorn estimated, adding, "He's been a real trooper." 

5. The set's paint treatments include plenty of sand to minimize the actors' risk of slipping.

6. "None of our plugs are near water," Hartshorn said, and the cables that snake through the set are completely insulated. "We don't have electricity and water mixing at all, in any possible shape or form. That was paramount (for) safety."

7. Using lights to simulate water would have been much more expensive, Hartshorn said. And going old school, with winches pulling cardboard waves across the stage, wouldn't have hit the right note. "This is a lot more subtle in that it's really not about the water, but it's about the fact that you feel like you're surrounded by water," Hartshorn said.

8. A subwoofer loudspeaker sits under the main seating area so that during a storm scene, the audience can feel as well as hear the thunder. Meanwhile, lightning is flashing and the sail is flapping against walls painted black. "It's super-effective," Hartshorn said.

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"Pen/Man/Ship"

Where: Portland Playhouse, 602 N.E. Prescott St.

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through March 5

Tickets: $5-$34 (including Arts for All, rush and other discounts); portlandplayhouse.org or 503-488-5822

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