PANAMA CITY BEACH — The prestigious Explorers Club is in crisis: Not only does the acting president want to admit a woman, the bartender is terrible. Women's equality might shake the foundation of the British Empire, but how does one even consider such a thing without a decent libation?

That's the opening salvo of "The Explorers Club," a play by Nell Benjamin, the composer and lyricist for "Legally Blonde: The Musical," being presented locally by 9 Muses Theatre. The play opens Thursday, July 13, at the Arnold High School auditorium and runs for two weekends.

"We wanted to do something with more actors in it ... something ensemble and something funny," said director Rachel Eiland-Hall, adding that actor Allen Walker brought the play to the company.

"The Explorers Club" features Charis Walker (Allen's wife) as Phyllida Spotte-Hume, an up-and-coming explorer; Macen Payne as Luigi, a NaKong tribesman painted blue; Jeff Floyd as Professor Cope, an enthusiastic herpetologist; Isaac Eiland-Hall as Professor Sloane, a devout archeo-theologist; Brian Hilario as Percy, a rambunctious explorer; Mat Birmingham as Sir Bernard Humphries, dedicated private secretary to the Queen of England; Allen Walker as shy and good-spirited Lucius, a botanist; Jared Sellick as Professor Walling, a passionate zoologist with an affinity for his Guinea pig Jane; and Jason Betz as Beebe, an explorer last seen outside the sacred mountain of the Jho Dae.

Allen Walker said working with a large cast is made easier because so many of them have worked together in the past, via plays at Kaleidoscope Theatre, the Martin Theatre, Gulf Coast State College and other venues.

"It definitely helps, the cast knowing each other," Allen Walker said. "It also helps with me being Lucius, kind of the center-post of the club, the fact that I know everybody."

Described as (Monty) "Pythonesque," this comedy of cobras, irate Irishmen and the occasional airship is a witty spoof of all those bold Victorian adventurers who ravaged foreign lands and annihilated indigenous cultures in the name of science, according to the review in Variety. The jokes are fast and the farce has a cumulative effect. Often at the middle of the madness is Luigi, who also may be the most rational character in the play.

"Luigi requires a type of physical comedy that can be incredibly rare to find," Rachel Eiland-Hall said. "Macen is just absolutely delightful."

The woman at the root of the uproar is played by Charis Walker, a Panama City Beach local who attended Gulf Coast State College for Theatre. She appeared in many of GCSC productions, such as "Les Miserables" as Eponine, "Barefoot in the Park" as Corie (where she costarred with Payne), and "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" as Hermia. She was a company member at the Seaside Repertory Theatre and currently works for Emerald Coast Theatre Co. as an educational instructor; she appeared last summer as Viola in ECTC’s production of "Twelfth Night."

"The biggest thing for Phyllida is this is the height of her life, she has worked so hard to get to the Explorers Club," Charis said. "When you see her initially, she's freaking out a little bit. ... She is absolutely in love with what she does."

Established in May 2016 by Charis and Allen Walker and Rachel and Isaac Eiland-Hall, 9 Muses Theatre is an all-volunteer community theatre troupe. The group's mission is to perform theatre "that is relevant and salient to our community and times. We aim to produce theatre that is professional in quality that moves our audiences." Every dollar raised through ticket sales and fundraising goes directly into paying for props, costumes, marketing materials and other costs of putting on shows.

"9 Muses got together because we all enjoy doing theatre and we wanted more chances to do it," Rachel Eiland-Hall said. "Panama City is a growing and vibrant community (with) a growing and vibrant art community, and we wanted to increase the number of opportunities."