The Chesapeake Bay Floating Theatre (CBFT) was organized to return the James Adams Floating Theatre experience to serving coastal communities. CBFT is working to build and operate a Showboat offering a similar experience to the original James Adams Floating Theatre. Using donations generously provided by private donors we will construct a Show Boat.. CBFT will take performances from town to town around the mid-Atlantic coastal region, to many of the same ports where the James Adams played.
Once built the James Adams II will operate as both a performance space and a museum. The Show Boat will house exhibits on subjects such as:
- the Original Show Boat
- the cast and crew
- Edna Ferber and her novel Show Boat
- Jerome Kern and Hamerstein II stage show of Show Boat
- Show Boat movies (1929, 1936, 1951)
- Repertory theatre, Vaudeville and Melodrama
- as well as other related topics.
The James Adams II will also present more contemporary light comedies and musicals. We intend to perform from a repertoire of 3 - 5 different productions. We intend to offer a different show each night like the original floating theatre.
CBFT is searching for a steel sea service barge 35 - 50 feet in width and 130 - 150 feet in length. We hope to find a donor for this vessel. If a donor can not be found we will purchase an appropriate vessel as funds allow. We anticipate that such a barge will cost $250,000 or more.
Another option would be to retrofit a similar dormitory barge or riverboat
With the acquisition of the vessel, construction will begin. Current estimates are that the James Adams II will cost approximately six to ten Million dollars to build or retrofit. We are seeking grant funding to support performances as well as educational and interpretive projects. However grant sources do not generally fund acqusition or constuction. Therefore we are relying on private funding to make our Capital Funding initiative successful.
