In 1965, the St. Louis Investment Co. purchased her, towed her St. Louis and changed her name to the Becky Thatcher. Inc. In September of 1975, she was towed over 1,000 miles from St. Louis to Marietta and was docked in the Muskingum River. At this time, there was no theater on the boat-the lower deck was only a cargo hold. The Ohio Showboat Drama group, however, decided to renovate the boat because they wanted to preserve the theater form of melodrama. Marlene Somerville, the resident artistic director of the Becky Thatcher Theater explains that melodrama is a 19th century theatrical genre in which all movements and emotions are very exaggerated.
Silent films are extremely good examples of melodrama.
While the audience ends up laughing at the absurdity of the characters, the actors have to take their roles very seriously in order for the ridiculousness of their gestures, emotions and situations to be amusing to the audience. This style of theater has been extremely popular for the Showboat. In 1998, Blair says, the Theater, which receives funding from Artsbridge, the Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Arts Council, expanded its schedule from four plays performed by professional, non-equity actors to include six shows in the fall, winter and spring in which amateur actors can participate.