Some buildings in Nebraska hide their best parts behind a plain downtown door. I walked past this one twice before noticing the marquee, and then I stepped inside and stopped talking mid-sentence.
Gilded ceilings, chandeliers, a lobby that belongs in a much bigger city, and a stage that has been busy since the 1920s. It turns out this place hosts everything from kids clutching their programs to string quartets playing by candlelight.
A Farnam Street Landmark in Downtown Omaha
At 2001 Farnam Street, right in the thick of downtown Omaha, sits a theater whose outside gives away almost nothing about its inside. The corner reads as ordinary city block until the marquee catches your eye.
The Rose Theater operates as a performing arts venue built in the 1920s, now dedicated largely to plays and musicals aimed at young audiences and their families. Douglas County residents have driven past it for generations, often without realizing what the doors open onto…