Red Cloud Opera House
Red Cloud Opera House
TOUR TIMES
9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m. The National Willa Cather Center is open from 9am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday (10am to 2pm on Saturdays in the winter).
For tour prices click here.
Built in 1885, the Red Cloud Opera House transports visitors back in time to set the mood, scene, and tone of the 1890s, 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." It was in the Red Cloud Opera House that Willa Cather first experienced theater and opera, performed on the Opera House stage, and delivered her high school graduation oration in 1890. Today, a wide range of artistic performances—from musicals to rock concerts and everything in between—grace the stage where Cather had her high school graduation ceremony. Galleries and featuring work from nationally renowned artists and exhibits from the Willa Cather Foundation’s archive can be found on the first floor and in the auditorium.
