64th Annual Spring Conference: Willa Cather and the Theater

Join us in Red Cloud, Nebraska, for this year's Spring Conference as we explore Willa Cather's relation to the theater—from her early experiences on the stage to her early career as a critic, from her own early fictional depictions of the theater to modern theatrical stagings of Cather's work and life! This year's conference will dig into Cather's own thoughts on theatrical performance and give us new insights into how that translates into her own literary artistry. We hope you'll find this event a fun and fascinating dive in to Cather's theatrical world!

Featured guests include:

L. Kent Wolgamott is an entertainment, music, and arts critic at the Lincoln Journal Star in Lincoln, Nebraska, a role that he has filled for more than 34 years. Like Cather, he grew up in a small Nebraska town before attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and beginning a career in arts criticism. At the 2018 Mayor’s Arts Awards, given by the Lincoln Arts Council, Wolgamott was honored for artistic achievement in the literary arts for his coverage of the Lincoln arts scene.

Ron Hull is a member of the Willa Cather National Statuary Hall Selection Committee and served on the Willa Cather Foundation Board of Governors for 36 years. His 39-year career with Nebraska Educational Television and the national Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C., is legendary. Hull joined NETV in 1954, becoming program manager in 1955, and may be best known for building appreciation of Nebraska literature through his programming at NETV in the 1960s. Hull’s memoir, Backstage: Stories from My Life in Public Television, recounts his many television exploits.

Julia Hinson is a freelance director and teaching artist originally from Hastings, Nebraska. Hinson has a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Memphis, a MA in Theater from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and a MFA in Directing from East 15 Acting school in London. Her directing credits include Eric Hermannson’s Soul (KC Fringe, Edinburgh) her adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s The Skull (Three Branch Festival- London), and OH/Pioneers (Red Cloud Opera House).