Published: August 09, 2008 12:02 am            

Support the Showboat to keep theater

She was built in 1935 and named The Omar. She was created as a working boat, a two-deck tug for the Ohio River Company.

Mainly made of steel, she is 207 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 371/2 feet high. In the water she displaced 581 gross tons.

Her oaken paddlewheel, rebuilt in 1980, is approximately 32 feet in diameter. It was powered by two Marietta compound stern wheel engines that required 25 to 75 tons of coal a day. These engines produced 1,000 horsepower.

For 25 years The Omar pushed barges up and down the Ohio River. Then in 1962 the Ohio River Company presented her to the State of West Virginia for use in its centennial celebration. That marked the end of her working days and the beginning of her “stage” career.

Sound familiar?

Actually, this is the vessel that later became the Rhododendron, which was purchased by the city of Clinton from the state of West Virginia in September 1966 at a public bid of $21,165.

In 1975, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began a major flood control project along the city’s waterfront, and the showboat took a five-year vacation. When the attractive, protective dike was completed in 1980, she made her second Clinton debut and was christened the “City of Clinton.”

The “City of Clinton” is now permanently located atop the dike. Here she is protected from the ravages of the winter river and easily accessible to the public for tours and plays. She received a sparkling white new exterior in 1980 and enjoyed interior refurbishing as well. Visible from the river, the park, Riverview Drive, and the U.S. 30 bridge, she welcomes visitors and is a proud landmark for Clintonians. With the rededication of the showboat in 1980, the theatre was given the name of Clinton-born Lillian Russell, one of America’s most popular stars of the theater.

Late in 1983, the Clinton Park Board and the Showboat Advisory Board decided it was time to keep the moneys paid to summer theater companies in Clinton. An artistic director was hired and the Showboat Players were founded. The summer of 1984 found the first group of Showboat Players performing in the Lillian Russell Theatre. The fall of 1988 saw the incorporation of a new nonprofit group, Clinton Area Showboat Theatre. The group went to the Clinton City Council and requested to lease the Showboat and to run the theater. The summer of 1989 found CAST running the theater.

Today, that entity continues to produce musicals and plays aboard the vessel.

But to do so, community support is a must.

It has been a rough year for CAST, as indicated by its Save our Showboat campaign that recently was announced to help offset some of this season’s expenses, which have been impacted by the economic slowdown. We also wonder if the reduction from five shows as in previous years to four this season has made a difference.

So, CAST is launching a fund-raising raffle beginning immediately. In keeping with the final show of the season, “Chicago,” raffle prizes will offer several great trips to shows in Chicago. First prize is an overnight trip for two to a show at Drury Lane in Oakbrook. Second prize is two tickets to a Chicago Shakespeare Theatre production, also with an overnight stay. Two tickets to Gateway Travel’s bus trip to “Mary Poppins” next April is third prize. Fourth prize is a pass to the 2009 CAST summer season and fifth prize is two individual 2009 Showboat tickets. Raffle winners will be drawn at the last performance of “Chicago” on Aug. 17. You do not need to be present to win. Raffle tickets are $5 each or five for $20 and are available at the box office, Clinton Medical Clinic Pharmacy, Clinton Printing, Gateway Travel and Cruise, Maggie’s Total Dimensions and Tanning, and from CAST Board Members.

Also, there will be an ice cream social at the Showboat on Tuesday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. For $5, everyone can enjoy a sundae with the toppings of your choice as well as baked goods and beverages. The August Follies will be held the same evening beginning at 8 p.m. Enjoy this year’s company performing some of their favorites and be the first to hear plans for next season. Tickets for the Follies are $18.

Another opportunity to help the Showboat is to sponsor a seat. For a $50 donation your name or the name of someone you wish to remember will be added to a plaque in the lobby.

Or you can participate by going to see “Chicago.”

Everyone we’ve talked to has said this year’s shows have been wonderful. If you’ve been reading the reviews turned in by Jami R. Smith, you’ll note that the shows are some of the finest she’s ever seen.

Our Showboat is an asset to our community and we’re hoping that the plea made by its directors is heeded by area residents.

Hopefully, a look at the number of shows, a restoration of reasonable fuel prices, which affects everyone’s bottom line, and the knowledge that quality shows are offered will help prevent such a campaign from being needed in future years.

        

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