Clinton Showboat

The Clinton Area Showboat Theatre will have auditions for thier spectacular season including Rent, Noises Off, Showboat, Big River, and Sunday in the park with George on February 27th from 4pm to 9pm and February 28th from 1pm to 6pm. Auditions will take place at the Mullany Theatre at Ashford University. Those planing to audition need to prepare 16 bars (about 20 seconds) of their best song. An accompanist will be provided and those auditioning need to bring sheet music. Auditions should take between 10 to 45 minutes depending on the size of the line and those auditioning can show up at anytime during the audition time.
Intern candidates are also invited to participate in auditions. Interns star in Saturday children’s theatre and High School Musical Jr., as well as playing minor roles and chorus in main stage productions, work back stage, build sets, set up lights, and take classes from the boat’s professional staff. Intern candidates need to be going into high school or have just graduated to qualify and they must also sing a 16 bar song as well.
Season tickets will also be available at the auditions for $85. Season ticket prices increase on March 1st to $90.

The Showboat has recently made the news.  The Quad City Times and the River Cities Reader have posted their annual theatre best of… articles.  Here’s how the Showboat fared:

QUAD CITY TIMES

• Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last 5 Years,” which opened the same weekend for both Riverbend Theatre Collective and the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre. Each was well-done, with a defined contrast in styles between Riverbend’s Allison Collins-Elfline and Dana Joel Nicholson; and Clinton’s Nicole Horton and Joshua Sohn.

• Clinton’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” in a style best described as Andrew Lloyd Webber meets TV Land.

• Clinton’s “Singin’ in the Rain,” with artistic director Patrick Stinson’s nonchalant glee in the Gene Kelly role.

RIVER CITIES READER

• Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. There was no way the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, with its intimate playing area, was going to lend Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical extravaganza the grandiosity it’s generally associated with. Instead, director Patrick Stinson and designers Adam Parboosingh, Candace Zak, and Shannan Osborn went for ingenuity, and came back with a clever, TV-influenced dreamscape featuring inspiringly simple and continually inventive nods to Star Trek, Bonanza, and – with puppets filling out the cast of brothers – even Sesame Street.

• Sarah Stephan, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. There were youthful talents aplenty in director Jalayne Riewerts’ wonderful rendition of Barbara Robinson’s yuletide novel. Yet Stephan, in a remarkably poised Clinton Showboat debut, managed to be the production’s most touching and most hilarious figure. Her mean-spirited Imogene caused you to choke up when the girl, in a lovely release of honest emotion, learned the true meaning of Christmas. The rest of the time, especially when Imogene responded to her classmates’ sincerity with crack one-liners and an unshakable deadpan, you were choking on your laughter.

We appreciate the acknowledgments and cannot wait to show you what we have in store for 2010.

Check out some of the highlights from the 2009 Summer Season.

 

 2009 Look Back: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Watch our latest Commercial.

 

 Latest Showboat Commercial: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For Jalayne Riewerts Christmas came early this year.  Around August.  In the heat of winter Jalayne was asked by the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre’s artistic Director, Patrick Stinson, to direct The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  Having directed this show before and having a jolly time doing it, Jalayne immediately accepted the job.  The story of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever centers around a family charged with the traditional task of putting together their church’s pageant.  Things seem to be going as planned until the Herdmans, the worst kids in the town, get involved.  This play is a great fun time for audiences of all ages to spend quality time together and see how the action plays out on the beautiful historic Clinton Showboat.  The show includes a large cast including Skyler Pennock, Cole Rauch, Sydney Schrieber, McKenna Shae Molder, Jacob Thies, Aedan Marlowe, Jay Bennett, Aiden McMinimy, Chelsea Gluesing, Adam Luckritz, Anna-Marie Black, Brittany Costello, Helena Fisher, Jack Marlowe, Nick Chasey, Kate Struble, Breanna Eissens, Allison Regenwether, Michael Kremer, Sarah Stephan, Jacob Smith, Allison Winkel, Karen Stephan, Sandee Cunningham, Sheila McMinimy, Nancy Holm, Michelle Eissens, Margaret Kuhl, Andrew Theis, Noah Strausser, and Laura Renault.

Performances start the day after Thanksgiving and run on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 PM until December 13. Tickets can be purchased at the Showboat Box Office at the boat at 303 Riverview Drive in Clinton or online at www.clintonshowboat.org for $15.  Group discounts are available by calling the box office at 563-242-6760.

The showboat is also offering their season tickets currently at an extreme discount of $80 for 5 shows.  The 2010 season is Rent, Noises Off, Showboat, Big River, and Sunday in the Park with George.  What a great way to start your holiday shopping and an awesome way to shop locally.