LASR.net Homepage

Menu

The Red Cloud Opera House


category : Historic Buildings
The Red Cloud Opera House The Red Cloud Opera House, 1885, stood for many years as the jewel in Main Street's crown. Here Blind Boone played, William Jennings Bryan spoke, and it was from this stage that Willa Cather graduated in 1890 and delivered her eloquent oration, "Superstition vs. Investigation". Life, culture, and the world beyond came to young Willa Cather on this very stage, and later, the Opera House became a significant part of her fiction in works such as The Song of the Lark, My Antonia, and Lucy Gayheart. One can still read the name of Willa's brother, Douglas, and others scrawled on the stage walls.

The Opera House facility is now home to the Willa Cather Foundation offices, gallery, bookstore, and auditorium. The newly restored Red Cloud Opera House auditorium transports visitors back in time to set the mood, scene, and tone of the 1880s, when Willa Cather and her friends eagerly anticipated the arrival of traveling productions such as The Bohemian Girl and The Mikado. As Cather herself put it, "Only real people speaking the lines can give us that feeling of living along with them, of participating in their existence."

Today, the Red Cloud Opera House hosts numerous performances each year. The diverse schedule consists of theatrical plays, concerts, humanities presentations, gallery exhibits, and much more. From professional entertainers to community theatre, the Opera House has something for everyone.


Admission: Free
Address: 411 North Webster St.
Phone: 402-746-2641
Our Email: info@willacather.org
Our Website:www.WillaCather.org

Come visit us in Red Cloud, Nebraska

Attractions and Upcoming Events

Red Cloud Golf Course

Red Cloud is proud of its professionally designed nine-hole golf course with watered greens, fairways and tee boxes. The course was designed by Harry Obitz, Golf Magazine'

Red Cloud, NE Golf Courses

The Auld Public Library

The Auld Public Library, 1917-1918, is a gift of William Thomas Auld, uncle of Jessica Cather Auld's husband, J. W. (Bill) Auld. Jessica was one of Willa's younger sisters. He gave the city of Red Cloud $20,000 in early April, 1917. On April 9

Red Cloud, NE Historic Buildings

Red Cloud Post Office Murals

One of only twelve public buildings in the state of Nebraska which commissioned murals for its lobby, Red Cloud Post Office houses three works by the western artist, Archie Musick, 1941.

Red Cloud, NE Arts

Webster County Historical Museum

Housed in a beautiful classical revival style mansion, the Museum located on West Highway 136, depicts the rich heritage of the early settlers of the county during the late 1800's and into the early 1900's. This 21-room, stately home built in 1907

Red Cloud, NE Museums

The Methodist Church

[The Methodist Church] The Methodist Church building described in My Antonia , now serves as a Masonic Lodge. Cather tells how, during the winter, the children were starved for color and how they stood in the cold and looked at the stained glass windows: "

Red Cloud, NE Historic Churches

Things to do Historic Buildings near Red Cloud, NE

Sweetwater Mill and Kilgore Bridges

Kearney United States Post Office

G.W. Shafer & Son, General Merchandise

The State Bank Building

Minden Opera House