Deborah Jean Templin toured in the Peter Stone / Maury Yeston Tony award winning musical Titanic, a new musical from 1998 to 2000 serving as swing performer covering the roles of seven women characters on the ship.  It was during this period she became intrigued with the original music of the period and the lives of the women who survived. While performing in  over 45 cities throughout the United States she began her site specific research at the homes of Titanic survivors and  the nation’s libraries.

Based on actual diaries, letters and interviews, Unsinkable Women brings to life nine famous figures including Madeline Astor (the beautiful teenage bride of John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest men in America) and Margaret Tobin Brown- the Unsinkable Molly” herself – whose account of the Titanic’s final moments brings the evening to its dramatic climax.  Characters who share their stories of tragedy and triumph include stewardess Violet Jessop (who tells of the friendships and loves of the below-decks serving crew) and Nora, an English music hall performer on her way to New York to appear in American vaudeville.

With musical underscoring and accompaniment on compact disc created by musical director C. Colby Sachs, choreography by Broadway veteran Ron Schwinn, nine sumptuous period costumes designed by Sara Jablon and direction by Nancy Robillard  Unsinkable Women offers vivid portrayals, punctuated with period songs from vaudeville numbers to Victor Herbert’s “Toyland”. Drawing wigs, costume and props from an authentic 1912 wardrobe truck while on stage, Ms. Templin transforms herself, shifting from character to character in full view of the audience.  Internationally acclaimed as a remarkable tour-de-force, Unsinkable Women has been called “the most affecting and truthful version of the Titanic story to day.”