Big Damn Door Festival

With our inaugural Big Damn Door Festival, BLUEBARN invites artists to join together in developing transformative work for the stage, while exploring new ways of collaborating and creating community among both artists and audiences.

The Big Damn Door Festival cultivates three artist-driven approaches to innovation in the creation of theatre, while centering projects that advance America's progress toward equity, inclusivity, and social and economic justice. BLUEBARN supported four artists in each category in limited residencies while they co-created both process and project through a six-month Development Phase. Each team then expanded to include four or more artists to bring the project to life in the Production Phase.

Our Big Damn Doors are not just a primary feature of the architecture of the BLUEBARN, but a metaphor for the festival itself: wide-open doors and unbounded possibilities. BLUEBARN is proud to support emerging artists from the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan area whose work has the power to drive change in our community, and who've been most impacted from systemic biases in opportunity. Artists that identify as Global Majority (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), LGBTQIA2s+, neurodiverse, and artists with disabilities have been prioritized.

Aug. 25th, 7:00pm, Aug. 28th, 3:00pm, Sept. 2nd, 7:00pm, Sept. 4th, 3:00pm

An exciting new drama exploring sexuality and what it means to be an illegal Latinx immigrant in Omaha, NE. After fleeing his country due to prosecution, Miguel a queer Latinx grapples with his identity. Torn between opposing forces, Miguel must discover whether he left one hostile country for another.

Aug. 26th, 7:00pm, Aug. 28th, 5:00pm, Sept. 2nd, 9:00pm, Sept. 3rd, 7:00pm, Sept. 4th, 5:00pm

The Emperor and the Fool (Chronicles of the House of Yim) follows a Chinese immigrant as he uncovers dark family secrets, discovered after his father's death. This semi-autobiographical play explores one man's challenges of grieving for his father and the hope of mending his strained relationship with his mother, while creating a new version of "the American family".

Aug. 27th, 7:00pm, Aug. 28th, 1:00pm, Sept. 1st, 7:00pm, Sept. 4th, 1:00pm

Tillage! is an immersive theatre performance that invites each audience member to sculpt their own narrative through exploration and discovery of three worlds and times. Tillage! casts the audience as explorers, allowing them to traverse the expanse of the BLUEBARN campus–the theatre, porch, and yard–with curiosity as their guide. Unlike a typical play, Tillage! uses sound and set design as the primary storytelling elements.

• Events will mostly be outdoors, but Re-Invent will proceed through both spaces.
• Please bring your own chairs for Re-Vision & Re-Imagine. Chairs are not necessary for Re-Invent.
• Walk up tickets will be available for $10/per show, before each show on a first come first serve basis. We recommend you purchasing a festival ticket in advance.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

BLUEBARN Theatre, 1106 South 10th Street, Omaha, United States