Taste Big Maggie, Guinness at Brigit

by Warren Francke

The Brigit St. Brigit Theatre company opens its latest Irish play to start their 20^th anniversary season with historic momentum, not to mention a free Guinness tasting this weekend.

Big Maggie not only brings Delaney Driscoll back in the title role, but follows growing development of support staff to aid artistic director Cathy Kurz and executive director Scott Kurz in their mission of producing classics and...

A New Start

by Leo Adam Biga

John Beasley got tired of being tired.

You’ve likely learned the John Beasley Theater & Workshop’s urgent appeal for funds to relieve its financial distress has been answered, and the once-endangered 2011-2012 season saved.

But you probably don’t know the back story, or why founding namesake and president John Beasley is willing to share the details, the better to make a case for the theater’s continued...

Butterfly’s End

by Patricia Sindelar

Opera Omaha opened its doors in 1958 with Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Since then, a more impactful production of this classic was not seen until the spring of 2006 when local artist Jun Kaneko designed the set and costumes. The city went crazy. Kaneko’s vision was lauded across the community. As if Omaha’s love wasn’t enough, the show hit the road, and Kaneko got rave reviews from Vancouver to...

OEAA Performing Arts Review: Playing It Cool

by Warren Francke

Sprinkle theater folks generously in a common crowd and they might seem exciting. But surround them with rockers or other artists and let the yawning begin. How lively were the theater winners at the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards? By far the liveliest was 90-ish Elaine Jabenis, the grande dame of the metro stage, who fired back with class at emcee Tom Becka who mispronounced her long-familiar name. Next...

Shock Jock

by Warren Francke

Blue Barn is ‘On The Air’ with Talk Radio at Downtown Space Talk Radio struck a timely chord when it was a Pulitzer-nominated play. It seems even more timely 22 years later as it opens at the Blue Barn’s Downtown Space. Then America had shock jocks like Howard Stern and liberal voices such as Alan Berg in Denver. When Oliver Stone turned it into a movie he changed the ending to deal with the assassination of...