Legacy artists recognized for lifetime achievement and cultural stewardship are among this year’s Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards honorees. The 19th annual event unfolds Feb. 16 at The Admiral, 2234 S. 13th St.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Special guest star Jewel Rodgers, a multiple OEAA nominee and Nebraska’s new state poet, will perform.
Lifetime Achievement in Performing Arts: Dick Mueller
After playing nightclubs and cutting records with a 1950s all-boy vocal group born at Omaha Central High School, Dick Mueller became a stage actor. He did a season of summer stock before trying the Big Apple. Back home he opened a small business and acted on area stages.
A career-defining moment came as a core acting company member with the Chanhassen (Minnesota) Dinner Theatre, where he fell hard for the dinner theater model then-turning craze. He soon launched the Firehouse Dinner Theatre in the Old Market. The Equity house enjoyed a wildly successful run in the 1970s and 1980s, becoming a top tourist destination.
“We sort of caught the wave and Omaha seemed to be ready for it,” Mueller said.
He wore many hats as an owner, artistic director, director and actor. Unusual for a dinner theater, he staged world premieres of new plays, including “Shakespeare and the Indians” by Dale Wasserman (“Man of La Mancha”). He enticed Broadway legend Joshua Logan (“Mister Roberts,” “South Pacific”) to direct and perform there.
Those ambitious reaches, Mueller said, “set the Firehouse apart.”
Future screen actors Dick Christie, John Dennis Johnston, Don Sparks and John Beasley honed their chops there.
When the dinner-and-a-show fad wore out, the Firehouse struggled. Mueller’s attempt to turn it into a nonprofit made the New York Times. More recently, his online reminiscences generated enough traffic to convince him to do a book charting the theater’s production history and behind-the-curtain stories.
“It was a thank you to everybody that made it work,” he said. “The award is unexpected but appreciated. At this late date for somebody to remember what we did all those years ago is the cherry on top of the Sunday. I’m honored.”
The community he built around the theater is what he misses most.
“In two decades I think we might have lost one performance because of sickness or something,” he said. “We had no understudies. And in all that time everybody showed up. I appreciated that.”
Since closing in the early 1990s as Omaha’s last Equity venue, the retired Mueller has occasionally taken acting roles on screen (Dan Mirvish’s “Omaha, the Movie”) and Vincent Lee Alston’s “For Love of Amy”) and stage (“Seascape” at the BlueBarn).
Lifetime Achievement in Visual Arts: Therman Statom
Glass artist Therman Statom has created installations across America. On the recommendation of colleague Jun Kaneko, the bi-coastal creative came to Omaha, converting a former factory into a central storage-shipping-receiving site and working studio. Statom’s since made the city his primary home for raising a family, creating new work and collaborating with youth serving organizations.
Growing up in Washington D.C., he found his purpose and passion haunting the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art, which became a second home. A curator took him under his wing. During 1970s studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, he discovered glass blowing and ever since he’s explored its boundaries, applying painterly techniques to translucent objects.
He makes no distinction between the glass art he makes and the social justice-education work he does with underrepresented youth. He collaborates with school and community-based programs to co-create art projects with children that resonate with their culture. Partners include the Omaha Public Schools, indigenous tribes, area hospitals and Arts for Me.
“I’ve always done programming. I’ve always advocated different things and I think Omaha is a great city to work in and to actually figure out something because it’s manageable,” Statom said.
Though his work is in high demand, he doesn’t necessarily create to sell. Studio process and time are precious to him.
“When you do have it and you’re not dependent on exhibiting it’s unrestricted time and that’s really pretty special to have,” he said. “I’m kind of in a shift now. I want to get a new body of work.
“I’m not quite sure what to make of it to be honest,” he added regarding the OEAA award. “Does this mean it’s (career) over? Seriously, though, I totally respect that this stuff is acknowledged.”
He’s especially pleased to be recognized by the OEAAs given that his late friend, Reader publisher John Heaston, was instrumental in creating the awards. The two men found each other to be kindred spirits in wanting to make positive change.
“John carried such incredible spirit – I just had to latch on. I could talk to him about ideas,” he said.
He said the two of them were planning projects together that sadly never materialized after Heaston got sick. Heaston died in 2024.
Lifetime Achievement in Music: Joey and Tony Gulizia
The Gulizia Brothers got an early start playing in their father’s big band, making their bones performing polkas and waltzes but finding their own musical identity jamming on jazz standards. Always exploring, they even dipped into Afro-Caribbean music.
Older brother Tony, who died in 2022, made his mark on keyboards and baritone horn. Joey’s known for drums and percussion. Gigging all around town, but especially Julio’s West, they were magnets for musicians who sat in with them and the brothers became in-demand sidemen themselves.
“There were a lot of times we were playing every day of the week,” Joey said.
Teaching became a big part of their careers as Nebraska Arts Council touring artists.
“We got to travel all over Nebraska and got to know all the best restaurants and back roads,” Joey recalled. ”Every night we’d play somewhere and during the day give lessons or do artist-in-schools programs.”
Tony continued teaching after moving to Colorado. Some students became successful musicians in their own right, including Mitch Towne and Matt Wallace. Joey carries on the Gulizia education legacy doing residencies.
“I appreciate when people realize what an influence Tony and I have been,” Joey said. “It’s rewarding knowing we planted seeds that actually grew.”
The pair’s work extended to commercial jingles, cruise ships and performing with Mannheim Steamroller. Even after Tony’s move, the brothers continued performing together.
Joey said it’s bittersweet Tony hasn’t been around to accept the flowers coming their way. including induction in the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame.
“Now we’ve got this one (OEAAs) coming up,” Joey said. “To make a mark on the music scene and to be recognized for that is a great honor.”
Today, Joey gigs as much as he wants, still making a living from music in his 70s.
John Heaston Award for Cultural Stewardship: Michelle Troxclair and Felicia Casher, Verbal Gumbo
Michelle Troxlcair and Felicia Casher (formerly Webster) combined their love of spoken word to create Verbal Gumbo, a showcase for artists with something to say. Gracing several venues during its heyday, most memorably The House of Loom, it became the local spoken word scene’s go-to platform and its two hosts the first ladies of oral expression.
Funny, provocative and soulful, the pair gave as good as they got and graciously highlighted the work of established, emerging and aspiring artists. Their forum invited original, heartfelt, subversive takes on social issues, giving space to underrepresented voices and ideas.
Beyond the richness of Verbal Gumbo, Casher and Troxclair have served the community teaching, administering, advocating. Troxclair’s spoken word group The Wordsmiths expanded oral traditions into new realms. While Verbal Gumbo is no longer a regular feat and Casher has relocated to Philadelphia, where her love for spoken word was born, and Troxlcair to Virginia, where she’s working on a doctoral program, the pair does annually reconvene their stirred pot. This year’s reunion occurs the night before the OEAAs at North Omaha Music and Arts.
Being recognized for Cultural Stewardship befits what Casher calls “a labor of love.”
“Verbal Gumbo became more than just an event, it became a sanctuary wrapped in a unique experience for creatives, poets, small businesses and lovers of the arts to gather, to be seen, to pour out, and to be filled,” she said. “It is truly an honor to have been a vessel for something so meaningful.”
“It was a spiritual experience for all and a space of healing for most,” Troxclair added. “We wanted to nurture artists and we feel as though we did that. We hope to continue to see it ripple out to new artists and poets well into the future.”
The artists are excited for Rodgers, a Verbal Gumbo veteran, to perform as the new state poet.
“She is a beautifully gifted wordsmith with a rare ability to connect with diverse audiences while educating them on the transformative power of the spoken word,” said Casher.
“We are so incredibly proud of Jewel,” Troxclair added. “She is a remarkable, talented young woman whose poetry is absolutely phenomenal.”
Rodgers appreciates their sustaining a legacy supportive of artists like herself.
For more OEAA awards night details and ticket info, visit www.oea-awards.org.