As North Omaha Neighborhood Tapestries returns for the Great Plains Theatre Conference’s free PlayFest bill, two community icons take center stage as subject and setting. En route to making her Omaha Star newspaper an institution in the African-American community, the late publisher Mildred Brown became one herself. Through the advocacy role she and her paper […]
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A theatre classic thrives at UNO
“What I most want to get across is for everybody to have a good time,” says UNO Professor of Theatre Doug Paterson about his production of The Threepenny Opera, that enduring ground-breaker by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Clearly, a good time can be had by all in this colorful version full of personality and […]
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The long road to creating edgy theater
Until now the Blue Barn Theatre has been like Omaha’s many other small stage companies by operating on a shoestring in makeshift spaces. This grassroots passion project was born of a band of New York drama school transplants afire with the idea of starting their own troupe. Relying more on creativity, charity, thriftiness and ingenuity […]
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Letting The Rose Bloom
When Matt Gutschick came to Omaha last September, the first thing he did was attend shows at as many local theatres as possible. Everywhere he went, he introduced himself to local actors and directors as the new artistic face of The Rose Theater, Omaha’s stage for children and families. He was reaching out as a […]
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Bringing back the Benson Theatre
The roaring 1920’s meant a lot of new things in America. It was a coming-of-age era which saw flappers redefining modern womanhood, jazz music flourishing, and the rise of community theatres. That nationwide liberation appeared locally as well, with the foundation of what was then known as the Benalto Theatre in Benson in 1923. In […]
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Brave Women Go West to Nicodemus
Susie Baer Collins got ready to direct Flyin’ West, the story of brave black women who homesteaded in Kansas, by driving south last summer to Nicodemus “in the middle of nowhere.” She’s known for going to great lengths to prepare her Omaha Community Playhouse assignments and it’s not that Nicodemus is so terribly far away […]
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Marley Christmas
Three Scrooges and a couple of Jacob Marleys sat around the edge of the stage and the front row as the Blue Barn cast got ready to rehearse a fascinating play that could just as well be called Marley Meets the Bogle. But the title is Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol , a darker and delightfully […]
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Coming ‘Round Again
Gordon Cantiello returns to Omaha’s Jewish Community Center Every now and then, Gordon Cantiello flies in to Omaha from San Diego and creates some musical theater. This time, he’s hired a few of the metro’s favorite vocalists to present The World Goes Round, a Kander-Ebb revue opening this weekend. If composer John Kander and lyricist […]
