City: Omaha, NE

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (402) 345-1576

Address: 614 S. 11th St.

Description: Boundary-breaking theater is at the heart of the Blue Barn, and it’s been tackling independent musicals and plays in Omaha since the late 1980s. A group of theater graduates from the State University of New York at Purchase got together and decided to create an urban theater outside of the constrains of New York City’s commercial market. They joined forces with the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and produced America in Three Pieces, the first show that featured one-acts from David Mamet, Spalding Grey, and Sam Shepard. The production had a $75 budget and a set consisting of two white sheets and received an overwhelmingly positive response from the Omaha audience.The theater group started producing independent scripts in the early 1990s and, after it was forced from its permanent home by a fire, roamed around for a few years and eventually settled in its current location, a 90-seat theater in the Old Market. The theater also opened an adjoining art gallery and established a bar in the lobby. The Blue Barn has produced more than 80 shows in its more than 20 seasons and remains a thriving outpost for local theater.