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

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

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

Grace Episcopal Church

Built in 1884 on the corner of Second and Walnut, the Grace Protestant Episcopal Church was moved to its present location in 1891. The brick veneer was added sometime after 1922. Grace Episcopal Church is the church in which Willa Cather and her parents were confirmed on December 27, 1922

Red Cloud, NE Historic Churches

Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial

The Art Gallery and Bookstore, located two doors south of the Cather Historical Center on main street, carries the country's most complete selection of Willa Cather's novels, short stories, biographies, and critical works about her.

Red Cloud, NE Memorials

Burlington Depot

Built in 1897, the main section of Red Cloud's Burlington Depot contained sleeping quarters on the 2

Red Cloud, NE Railroad History

Things to do Historic Buildings near Red Cloud, NE

Minden Opera House

Starke Round Barn

G.W. Shafer & Son, General Merchandise

Hanson-Downing House

Walter Klem House

The Walter Klem House, designed in the English Cottage style, is located in Kearney. Historic housing stock in the city pred...