White Rabbit, Red Rabbit has been called a play. But it’s a lively, global sensation that no one is allowed to talk about. Its award-winning playwright, Nassim Soleimanpour, is Iranian. His words have escaped censorship and are awaiting your audience. Slyly humorous and audaciously pointed, this ‘theater-entertainment-meets-social-experiment’ is unlike anything, and will make you question […]
Theater
Taking on Inclusion in the Arts
Why does casting people of color have to be political? Why are they relegated to roles defined by their ethnicity more than their talent? Despite countless contributions and years in theater, why are performers of color continually overlooked? Why is casting people of color over white actors considered, “non-traditional”, when they helped create the tradition […]
South Omaha takes center stage
South. When applied to Omaha, the word refers to a neighborhood and a school where cross-cultural intersections happen every day. South is also the working title and setting of a new play by Los Angeles playwright Michael John Garces. His original work is having its world premiere at South High on Wednesday, […]
Identity
When the Blue Barn Theatre announced their plans to build a new performance space in 2012, the main objective was to expand their theatrical capabilities and create a better audience experience while maintaining their artistic identity. That identity never wavered last season, even as the artistic and managing staff worked through all of the […]
A Curious Fire
In the underpaid (and often never paid) world of Omaha theater, an artist’s most valuable resource is their time. How we spend that time is often a struggle between the two things most precious to us: our art and our family. Madeline Radcliff-Reilly of the newly-formed FireBelly Rep theater knows this all […]
Visiting People With Memorable Pasts
Circle Theatre has been around for quite a while. In fact, it’s celebrating a thirty-third anniversary this year. That’s some kind of longevity. The new Resident Director, Fran Sillau, is also 33. The past meets the future. A fresh start. Added to what’s new, the group offers a world premiere in August, Ernie Nolan’s My […]
Power and Play in the Park
Two women who know their own minds and want their own ways are at the centers of back-to-back alignments of the plays presented this summer by Nebraska Shakespeare in Elmwood Park. Each woman confronts an ambitious man who yearns to prosper and gain power in time and place. The comic point of view dominates The […]
Play considers North Omaha history through the eyes of Mildred Bown
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 […]
Embracing the Past, Excited for the Future
The Omaha Community Playhouse found a familiar face in their search for the company’s new Artistic Director. New York-based director Kimberly Faith Hickman accepted the position last week and will begin duties on June 1st, 2016. She fills the void left after the dismissal of OCP’s most recent Artistic Director, Hilary Adams. Hickman is […]
OEA Awards 2016 Recap: Theatre
The bitter cold outside Sunday night gave way to warm greetings and well wishes from all over the theatrical spectrum at the 10th Annual Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards, held inside the Downtown Doubletree Hotel on January 17th. Omaha World Herald columnist Mike Kelly hosted the newly reformatted awards night […]