History
of the Omaha Theater Company
The year was 1948. Emmy Gifford and two other volunteers representing
the Junior League of Omaha were headed to New York City for a national conference
of community volunteers, educators and theater professionals who, like her,
were interested in bringing children’s theater to American audiences.
This conference was the seed of the Omaha Theater Company for Young People.
She returned enthusiastic and determined to create a theater dedicated to
enriching the lives of their own community’s children. One year later,
the Omaha Junior Theater was born.
The organization is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. Mrs.
Gifford was the theater company’s first president. For twenty-five years
the theater grew and thrived as an organization comprised primarily of Junior
League volunteers and amateur artists who literally pioneered the field of children’s
theater. Without a permanent home, the Junior Theater performed on any empty
stage that could accommodate their productions. Its actors, props and costumes
moved from venue to venue. Volunteers did all the work.
In 1974, a capital fund-raising campaign enabled the Junior Theater to find a
permanent home at the Center Theater, a neighborhood movie house at 3504 Center
Street. The 500-seat theater had space for classrooms and a costume shop. In
1977, the theater company was renamed The Emmy Gifford Children’s Theater
to honor its principal founder and her dream.
A new chapter in the Omaha Theater Company’s history unfolded in the late
70’s when Nancy Duncan became director. The theater grew to 14 full-time
employees by 1986 with leadership from Nancy Duncan and Bill Kirk, along with
a full-time administrative staff. When Mrs. Duncan resigned in 1986, Mark Hoeger,
James Larson and Roberta Wilhelm formed the administrative and artistic team
that took the theater into a new direction – and eventually to the new
location in the Astro Theater at 20th and Farnam. Donated by the Blumkin family
in 1993, The Rose, as it is now called, is short for The Rose Blumkin Performing
Arts Center. It was refurbished with $10.3 million dollars raised by The Rose
Blumkin Performing Arts Center Foundation, headed by President Susie Buffett.
Today, the organization is entering its 56th year as the Omaha Theater
Company with 32 full-time, 14 part-time arts professionals and numerous
contracted professionals. Many of the actors double as teachers in the
company’s growing educational and outreach programs and its Performing
Arts Academy.
Joining the Omaha Theater Company in the mid-1990’s, choreographer and
artistic director Robin Welch added critically acclaimed dance productions
to its already successful theater program. The ballet productions brought to
The Rose Theater’s stage an array of talent including principal dancers
from Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Japan’s Maeda Ballet and Morimoto Ballet
companies; concert pianist Svetlana Rodinova, and composers Matthew Naughton
and Chuck Pennington.
In 1999, leaders of the Omaha Theater Company built on this foundation and
brought professional ballet back to Omaha by creating the Omaha Theater Ballet
with Welch as artistic director. Welch’s choreography for the Omaha Theater
Ballet includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Coppelia, The Firebird and
The Nutcracker.
The Omaha Theater Company is very mission-oriented and focused
on the fulfillment of their mission. This is accomplished through
