Past Events

Join us as author Steven Trout takes a hard look at Cather's analysis of the Great War.

This special exhibit allows visitors a special glimpse into the people and places that have shaped Red Cloud over the last century and a half.

Cabaret Theatre brings a celebration of the great American songbook to the Red Cloud Opera House!

Don't miss this captivating look into the Exodust movement, as freed African Americans established Black communities across the Great Plains during the late 19th century. At once a look at the diversity of Great Plains history as well as an opportunity to consider history as a catalyst for art, author and professor DeMisty D. Bellinger explains how these migrations informed her forthcoming novel, New to Liberty.

In conjunction with Smithsonian's Museums on Mainstreet exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America, the Red Cloud Opera House is pleased to present the Great Plains Mini-Film Festival!

Influenced by Appalachian string-band music and the corridos of the desert Southwest, Grombacher and Black's songs tell the stories of those who shaped the American West.

Mark your calendars for a reading and discussion with author Erin Flanagan! Set in 1980s rural Nebraska, Deer Season, Flanagan's 2021 novel, follows a mystery surrounding a missing girl and a farmhand with a past as area hunters enjoy opening weekend. Much like Willa Cather, Flanagan portrays the not-so-distant past of a Great Plains community and asks readers to consider how rural culture shapes the lives of her characters.  Register for the event here.

The National Willa Cather Center is excited to announce Crossroads: Change in Rural America, a Smithsonian Museums on Main Street exhibition, will be coming to our Red Cloud Opera House gallery. This insightful and beautiful exhibition speaks to our nation's rural histories . . . and to our future!