Event Archives

Join us in celebrating Willa Cather’s birthday! The National Willa Cather Center and Red Cloud Opera House will be open for guests to view the facilities, shop our bookstore, and enjoy a piece of cake.

Family-friendly, youth-centered entertainment is on tap when The String Beans visit the Red Cloud Opera House on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 11 a.m. The Lincoln-based group will perform a variety of original songs about all the things kids love: animals, cartoons, food, sports and more. The hilarity and spontaneity of The String Beans is designed to get audiences singing and dancing to the music. There is no charge for this event and pizza will be provided.

Sponsors:

Join us for a reception in honor of the Nebraska Rural Living artists on Saturday, November 10 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The reception will include light hors d' oeuvres, drinks, and great conversation in the gallery of the Red Cloud Opera House. The artists exhibiting include Beth Cole of Merna, Desiree Hajny of Blue Hill, Susan Hart of Cozad, Garald Horst of Arnold, and Sondra Jonson of Cambridge. Artwork shown by Garald Horst.

When a magical mishap leaves a million dollar inheritance up for grabs, the next trick will be figuring out who the lucky winner is, and who will end up behind bars for malicious magical mayhem! This is an abracadabra disaster, and it’s up to you to find the murderer before he or she vanishes into thin air. Spend the evening glimpsing through smoke and mirrors to uncover which hocus pocus hitman offed the poor fellow, and stop him before this goes down as the most dangerous magic trick in history.

Please join us in New Hampshire this fall for “Willa Cather’s Spirit Lives On," a series of events held on Friday, Oct. 19 and Saturday, Oct. 20, as a national celebration of the 100th anniversary of My Ántonia. The Willa Cather Foundation's Ashley Olson, executive director, and Tracy Tucker, education director, are featured speakers during the weekend, which also includes tours of local Cather sites, readings, a piano recital, a Cather-themed dinner, and the composer Tom Dunn's musical play Kindness and Cruelty: Willa Cather in Jaffrey.

To celebrate the 100th publication anniversary of My Ántonia, screenwriter and producer Victoria Riskin and Cather scholar Dr. Charles Johanningsmeier will join Willa Cather Foundation Executive Director Ashley Olson for a discussion on adapting the novel for a 1995 TV movie. Clips from the film will be shown and all attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the book. Tickets will go on sale soon.

In collaboration with Film Streams.

On Saturday, September 22, 2018, just one day past the 100th anniversary of the original publication of My Ántonia, we will stage an all-day marathon reading of the entire text of Cather’s beloved novel. This event is free and open to the public and will take place at Omaha’s Gallery 1516. It will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end in the early evening, to be followed by a talkback discussion and no-frills closing reception. Attendees may drop in at any time of day or come and go throughout the event.