Show/Boat: A River

Obie Award-winning Target Margin Theater, in collaboration with NYU Skirball, presents a daring reimagining of the seminal musical Show Boat, now re-envisioned as Show/Boat: A River. This bold adaptation reframes the 1927 classic for today’s audience, exploring America’s transformation from 1880s Jim Crow to the challenges of today – journeying from steamboats to airplanes, vaudeville to radio, and the Spanish-moss South to the bustling city of Chicago amid the Great Migration.

Show Boat is both a powerful narrative and a historical reflection, revealing a legacy marked by violent racism while striving for a more just America. Director David Herskovits, known for his provocative interpretations, brings a fresh perspective to this quintessentially American masterpiece. Building on Target Margin’s renowned tradition of re-envisioning classic works, this new staging promises the company’s trademark extravagant theatricality, intricate design layers, and a vibrant celebration of language, song, and spirit.

Show/Boat: A River challenges us to confront our past and envision a reimagined America for 2025, bridging the gap between history and the present with striking relevance.

PRODUCTION GUIDANCE

The source material, the musical Show Boat, includes racially offensive material. Show/Boat: A River, is a re-envisioned adaptation of that work.

Date + Time

About

SKIRBALL SALON

Join Professor Laurence Maslon (NYU Tisch) and Professor Michael Dinwiddie (NYU Gallatin) for a conversation on the history, significance, and legacy of Show Boat – including the reimagined staging at NYU Skirball in January 2025 – in the NYU Skirball Lower Lobby. LEARN MORE HERE.

Presented in partnership with Under the Radar

Mark Russell, Founding Director

Meropi Peponides & Kaneza Schaal, Co-Directors

ArKtype, Festival Producer

More information at utrfest.org

Under the Radar is the United States’ premier festival of experimental theater and performance art. As a long-time New York City-based platform for cutting-edge work hailing from around the globe. Produced by ArKtype with Festival Director Mark Russell, UTR has been reimagined in its 20th annual season as a city-wide celebration that incisively speaks to our moment. Rather than being tied to a single host institution, Under the Radar’s current iteration is curated collaboratively with an array of renowned arts organizations and curators, each harnessing the connective nature of the festival format to introduce some of the world’s most innovative multidisciplinary voices to wider audiences. The 2025 edition of UTR will include over 33 distinct programs at 24 theater spaces, presenting more than 250 performances in only 16 days from January 4 to 19. The depth, breadth and excellence of this year’s festival serves as proof that collaboration can power the American theater through this era of existential crisis into a reinvigorated future of conjoined artists ready to embrace diversity, challenge and reinvention.

  • Wed Jan 22 – Sun Jan 26, 2025
  • 7:30 PM, 3:00 PM
  • $60

Run Time

Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with an intermission.

Advisory

PRODUCTION GUIDANCE

Trailer

Creative Credits

SHOW/BOAT: A RIVER
A play with music adapted from Show Boat (1927)

Book and lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Music by JEROME KERN
Based on the novel by EDNA FERBER
Adapted and Directed by DAVID HERSKOVITS

The cast includes Tẹmídayọ Amay, Alvin Crawford, Caitlin Nasema Cassidy, Suzanne Darrell, Edwin Joseph, J Molière, Steven Rattazzi, Philip Themio Stoddard, Rebbekah Vega-Romero, and Stephanie Weeks 

Musical Director/Vocal Arranger Dionne McClain-Freeney
Musical Director/Orchestrator Dan SchlosbergCostume Design Dina El-Aziz
Scenic Design Kaye Voyce
Lighting Design Cha See
Sound Design Megumi Katayama
Choreographer Caroline Fermin
Production Stage Manager Hethyr (Red) VerhoefProduction Manager Daria Walcott
Assistant Director Adam M. Kassim

The artists

David Herskovits

Dionne McClain-Freeney

Dan Schlosberg

Target Margin Theater

Support

NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels; The Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater; Collins Building Services; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Goethe Institut-New York; Austrian Cultural Forum New York; Marta Heflin Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Allies for Arts Access Fund support.