Future of St. Paul's floating theater uncertain

What do you call a boat that doesn't leave the dock and has a stage but no actors?

The Minnesota Centennial Showboat.

Since 1958, the University of Minnesota's theater department has been staging summer productions aboard a vessel moored on the Mississippi River. But this summer's show — which runs through Aug. 27 — will be the U's last float on the boat.

When the show closes, the future of the showboat, docked at St. Paul's Harriet Island, is adrift.

In an arrangement with more twists than the melodramas U students stage on the showboat each summer, the 225-seat theater is owned by the U, attached to a dock and walkway owned by the city of St. Paul and managed by Padelford Riverboats, which operates tourist excursion boats nearby.

"Ultimately, it's the property of the (University of Minnesota) Regents," said Marcus Dilliard, head of the department of theater arts and dance.

And it's just too expensive for the theater department to maintain, he said.

"The showboat, from a producing standpoint, was set up originally as a self-sustaining enterprise," Dilliard said. But the cost of everything from driftwood removal to hull insurance, security and utilities has to come out of ticket sales from the summer production. Those ticket sales total about $60,000 each year.

"Show me a theater that's able to fund itself through ticket sales," said Dilliard, who has done lighting design for opera, dance and theater productions throughout the Twin Cities, the U.S. and Europe.

The showboat's problems crested with high water on Harriet Island in 2014. That summer's schedule was cut short and there were no shows in 2015, Dilliard explained.

Dennis Behl, who handles communications for the theater arts department, says the summer shutdowns are like airline revenues. "You take off and the seats aren't sold and that's it, baby."

The U didn't take its decision to ground the showboat productions lightly, Dilliard says. "We had some hard conversations."

A 15-year agreement between the city and the U ends this summer, says Mike Hahm, director of the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department. St. Paul invested in the landing as part of renovations at Harriet Island the same time the current showboat was being built.

Hahm says the boat's setting on the riverbank facing the downtown St. Paul skyline is a "magical place."

But it's unknown if the city — or Padelford or another group — will be involved in the showboat's future. Michael Denny, director of development services at the U, is charged with looking at options. He's worked on projects including the recently renovated Northrop Auditorium and the U's campus in Rochester.

"I get these kind of things," Denny says of the showboat situation. The floating stage "didn't fit the (U's) mission anymore."

And the carrying costs of $130,000 a year go beyond what the theater department can afford, Denny says.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that the showboat is rented by other Twin Cities theater groups and the facility can be rented for receptions and other functions. An exhibit of Napoleon Bonaparte objects October through January was the first exhibition on the boat.

The boat that became the first U showboat was commissioned in 1898 as the General John Newton and spent nearly 60 years in military work, as well as work on the Mississippi River for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was even a "hearing boat," where cases involving access to the river were heard.

The university had been thinking of buying a showboat and Minnesota's centennial in 1958 seemed to be the right time. It was not unusual for colleges to have showboats, Dilliard says. "This is the last of the Big 10 showboats."

The General John Newton was listed as government surplus property and docked in New Orleans in the 1950s. The university bought the boat for $1, but it needed $50,000 to turn it into a theater. The state's centennial commission kicked in half and the first show was staged in 1958.

That first show, "Under the Gaslight," also will be the U's final showboat production as well.

For several decades, the showboat was docked near the U and used every summer by U theater students. More than a few actors who gained local and national prominence have, as they say, trod those boards, including Linda Kelsey, Loni Anderson, Raye Birk, Warren Bowles, Bradley Greenwald and Bain Boehlke.

But it wasn't always smooth sailing for the showboat.

In 1993, the General John Newton needed work, but the university found the expense overwhelming. The city of St. Paul got involved when a capital campaign was launched in 1994 and the boat was moved to Harriet Island in 1995 and put in dry dock for repairs. The city would fix up the park and dock, the university did the repairs on the boat.

Productions moved ashore for three years and the showboat reopening was scheduled to be part of Fourth of July festivities at Harriet Island in 2000. But in January that year, a fire destroyed the nearly finished showboat. A spark from a welding torch was to blame.

Still, the showboat was not sunk. A new vessel, the Captain Frank M. Whiting, was built and opened in April 2002. Whiting was a U professor credited with launching the showboat in 1958. He directed the first 16 student shows on the boat.

Denny calls the showboat "part of the riverfront fabric."

St. Paul's Hahm says the boat was "custom made to fit" its Harriet Island mooring.

Dilliard says the university would like to continue to stage shows there, it just can't afford to own it.

But so far, no one can say who will take the rudder.

This is an AP Exchange feature by Kathy Berdan at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.