i LOVE this theatre to bits. this was my first professional job and i can tell it will always have a special place in my heart. i always felt seen and heard by my peers and those above me. the board is so generous and kind and always make an effort to know everyone who works at the boat. i will 100% come back if they have a spot for me in the future :)

LOVED working at the Showboat this summer! It was such an amazing experience and the entire team was beautifully collaborative, kind, inclusive, and just so so fun! We had an absolute blast. I would come back in a heartbeat. I can’t speak for anything that occurred in past years, but I can say that this summer at the Showboat was such an incredible ride. Wouldn’t trade the beautiful memories & connections I made with this beautiful cast, crew, and production team for the world! Showboat rocks!!

I have worked at the Showboat in a variety of capacities for six years. As an artist I have always felt heard, respected, valued, and safe within all spaces of the boat. Over the years I’ve seen a variety of leadership styles and admin. With each new season of admin comes growth and change for the boat to become a more positive place for people to create art and community. That change doesn’t come without growing pains, but that’s apart of growth and change. Every community has its quirks, but Clinton truly loves the boat and goes out of its way to make the company members experiences special. From local discounts, community dinners, and being recognized in local shops it’s truly a place of community. The boat has given me opportunities that are invaluable to my lived experience as a young artist. I’ve received such positive mentorship and support from my fellow collaborators and administration since starting at the boat as a college junior. The boat is a place where I was able to take risks, learn, and fail with a community of collaborators willing to support me.This strong community and mentorship has lead me towards a career as a college educator, mentor, and artist. One joy that I have as an educator is knowing my students who work for the boat are surrounded by people who care deeply for them. The staff, admin, and creative teams have always valued investing in the mentorship of young artists. I’m happy to know that my students are working an environment that fosters artistry and humanity. Over the last 6 years the boat has changed in a variety of ways through housing, admin, season structure, equity status, and shop spaces. Change is hard and growing pains happen. At the end of the day artists want to come back because of the community and collaboration that the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre offers.

This theatre gave me one of the greatest creative and work experiences of my career thus far. Granted I am very new to the performing world but I think that speaks to the professionally of the theatre. I was a bit nervous going into the contract after hearing about the issues regarding housing, but even before hearing that they were updating the housing it didn't quite deter me because I have been on many contracts this past year that have all had their fair share of housing "quirks". But I was quite impressed when they informed us on all the updated housing! Housing aside, the rehearsal and professional experience was nothing short of fulfilling. My cast mates and I were all so passionate about our work and we had great leaders behind the table who listened to our input and respected the skills we brought in, and were experts at getting the best out of our performances while also treating us like equals in the process. Our director came in with full knowledge of the show and the vision, and our musical director took time with us to make sure we were on point musically and vocally! I genuinely always left rehearsal beyond excited to go back to work the next day. The unsung heroes of the Showboat are often the incredible tech team they have, a combination of full time employees of the boat to students on summer stock contract who are the greatest, kindest, and most professional people I have ever worked with. Everyone excels at their abilities and I felt honored as just a performer to be able to learn from tech crew both during and after work hours. The Showboat certainly knows how to hire people who are dedicated to their work and never make it feel like work. In all, I cherished my time at the Showboat Theatre. The staff was always willing to help and provide us with the best professional experience they could grant us. Seeing the staff’s dedication to helping the boat “stay afloat” bled deeply into the passion of its actors and rest of its staff. Wrapping up my contract was the most bittersweet experience of my career thus far because I was not also leaving the greatest professional experience I have had on a contract, but also the greatest personal experiences out of work on a contract!

This a great place to work. This is my second year here. My first year, I was here on an Equity contract as an actor. This year, I’m on staff. The theater is a bit small and, due to a purina factory in town, frequently smells like dogfood but every city/theater has its little eccentricities. We’re housed in a brand, new apartment/condo complex and the town has plenty of restaurants and grocery stores. The staff has been nothing but kind and positive, even employing a full-Summer mental health expert who monitors everyone’s wellbeing. The rehearsal schedule is VERY short but that’s show business… Executive Director and all other staff are kind, considerate, and professional.

This Theater, albeit quirky, has been a joy to work for. I will never discredit a negative comment about the theatre, as last year a LOT of shit went down, primarily due to admin’s failure and inability to communicate effectively but also due to the complete immaturity and lack of empathy or understanding from many of the actors. As an educator who has worked at the elementary, high school, and collegiate level, I can firmly say that the amount of temper tantrums thrown by the cast and admin was insane, and was impossible to get away from due to our living arrangements at the time, which was in a hospice home that the company was renting. That wasn’t the company’s first choice of housing, but the company lost a ton of money due to covid so I get it. After the first few weeks of growing pains and a LOT of TLC to housing, it became live-able (not at all ideal but we made it work). Otherwise, the company has been and continues to be an incredibly warm and welcoming environment, being sure to include an LGBTQIA+ and Mental Health coordinator to help people decompress. As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, and the BIPOC community, I can say without question that admin has been making amazing steps to heighten their level of inclusivity over the past several years. That’s not to discount any negative interactions that were had last summer, as those experiences were so personal, and SO valid in their discomfort and feelings of discrimination. Microagressions are a real thing, and the admin have done a great job in educating themselves on this. The theatre is a small one, but they hire incredible talent both on the acting side and the creative team side. The shows I’ve worked on and seen at the boat easily rival Broadway productions, just on a much smaller scale. Like another commenter has said, there is a reason people keep coming back here: good people, good fun, good shows. Don’t go looking for trouble and you won’t find it. And if you do, you’ll at least leave with life-long friends, and great stories. (edited)

I LOVE this space so much. I have VERY little to complain about. Most of it has to do with the town around this place. But it’s a town of 20,000 people, with a median age of like 60, in the Midwest with a Purina dog food factory. So what can you do. We have been housed in a brand new housing division with a full kitchen, bath, washer/dryer and one roommate so 4 people total in the apartment. There has been ample space to park. The executive producer has been nothing but kind more than often going out of his way for his performers. The cast of the show I have been a part of has been a tight knit wonderful crew that is always looking out for each other and lifting each other up. People were worried regarding the posts that are already on here, but all of those hesitancies were put aside the second we got here. Some people seem to forget to check their privilege and realize that it is a college summerstock experience on a literal boat (which by the way is one of the neatest little spaces I have ever been in). Will probably return if they’ll have a spot for me. P.S. Everyone on the design team, and production staff returns to this place year after year after year. If it was horrible why would they?

DO NOT WORK HERE Okay, this is going to be a long one. I worked here for one season (performed in 3 shows). Already we were off to a rough start when I wanted to negotiate my pay after learning that others had done so. I had received a not-so-great offer in terms of roles and pay and after saying "I accept the roles" I asked to negotiate. The one handling negotiations did not receive this well and was rude to me in emails. I then inquired about another position just so that I could receive a higher pay and make money this summer so I went from $250 to getting $325 a week (not great). The housing was awful. As you can read in another post, we were put up in an abandoned nursing home that hadn't been touched in almost 3 years. The company did not come to clean up or inspect housing until the day when actors/tech started to move in. The "kitchen" fridge was full of mold. I had to bring up an old table and chair from the basement to my "room" so I could have a desk. Also, I was sleeping in a hospital bed with horrible AC. Towards the end of the contract, there were leaks in the ceiling and floods happening. Our concerns were not listened to most of the time on these things. There was no artistic director instead the producer was trying to do 3 things - produce, direct, and light design. Things were getting out of hand QUICKLY. The director of the first show (who was rude to me over email) made a point to speak to every other castmate individually and small talk EXCEPT me during rehearsals. When I would show up to my understudy rehearsals, he acted like I wasn't there. He was rude to me during a spacing rehearsal when I was in my spot, but he said I was wrong until he looked again and I was correct. When I confronted him about his attitude, he apologized and then left after opening. When we went into the second show more issues arose like a rude radio host that belittled our actors for cheap radio jokes. Also, the housing got worse with a flooding shower that flooded an entire hallway and rooms had mold everywhere. There is not much in the tiny town to eat and it's not walkable. The theatre was a 10-minute drive so good luck if you don't have a car. We had issues with the producer when we asked that he not park on the left side of a driveway because people could not get out so then he said no one could park there and that later he'd give out parking passes to all the white straight men. It got to a point with him that he would misgender/deadname people and we asked him not to do that and he reacted like a baby making us do manual labor as revenge so then the whole cast refused to rehearse until we got the issue resolved. Since he is at the top no one on the admin staff would say anything to him. Sets were not safe and people tripped on platforms. The rehearsal room was not safe as it had dropped ceilings with glass chandeliers that broke when a 6'0 actor was rehearsing. At the end of the summer, I left but still was working on the last show virtually for my other position. I could not get in contact with the producer for materials so I could not do my job properly for about 4 days. This was typical for him as once I had to email him 10 times to get a response. When I was asked for my last paychecks 2 weeks later, he did not respond and then said "Okay I'll pay you but I feel like you didn't earn it" and went on to say how I didn't do my job for the last 2 weeks when it was only about 5 days so I explained how I didn't have the tools. He reacted horribly to this saying awful things about my work ethic and career. He sent long paragraphs in multiple emails saying how I needed handholding and that I wasn't doing a good job (yet I did great as shown by my impact). It took a month and me saying "You legally have to pay me. It's in my contract" for him to finally Venmo me the rest of my paycheck which he labeled "Now leave me alone." A lot of people were taken advantage of and not paid for the work they did. The board has been contacted to remove him, yet they have not. Do not work here. Bad theatre, bad housing, bad "city," bad staff, and BAD management.

Long story short: The actor housing was not up to Equity code. When I approached the union with my concerns, the producer became irate and ultimately ended up firing me out of retaliation. Their housing, in fact, was not up to code. It was essentially an abandoned nursing home with very little care given to actually renovate it. There were at least 10 people sharing one shower (this was the biggest violation). There was basically no furniture in the bedroom (besides a literal hospital cot). When I asked for even a chair, the producer said he "did not have to give me furniture." This may have been a case of a bad person in charge, but the housing was abysmal either way. Apparently the theater used to house people in the community with board members or in hotels, but that was not an option this summer for some reason. Equity negotiated a financial settlement on my behalf, thankfully.