OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — William Shakespeare once wrote "All the world's a stage," but the curtain is closing on Nebraska Shakespeare after 26 years of production.
For seasoned actor Cork Ramer, the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival was his first paying job. With the non-profit ceasing operations, he admits a part of him will go with it.
"It will be greatly missed by thousands and thousands of people," Ramer said. "The audiences didn't just come from Omaha, or Omaha and Council Bluffs, they came from everywhere, the actors came from everywhere, the design crew came from everywhere, it was a national project."
On its website, the organization says the financial challenges of the past couple of years were "existential." With COVID precautions adding more than $80,000 of costs to their budget. They say this year was a "significant heavy lift" due to being short of staff, volunteers and financial resources.
"The time now is very hard for nonprofit organizations, be they theater or not," Ramer said.
Nebraska Shakespeare was the only actors' equity theater in the state. With its closure, there won't be a recognized equity theater company in Nebraska. But Ramer believes, we're losing much more.
"It was for bloody everybody and everybody got to hear those words, and feel what those emotions were and see the spectacle and have fun," Ramer said.
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