Omaha Mobile Stage

Omaha Mobile Stage is a creative placemaking project to design and make a portable stage to serve as a cultural and economic catalyst in public spaces and main streets throughout the Omaha metropolitan area. OMS is a project of Partners for Livable Omaha, an Omaha-based nonprofit dedicated to the educational and charitable support of the live performing arts. Working with a diverse group of advisors and collaborators, FACT students designed and built the Omaha Mobile Stage starting with a repurposed 18-foot box truck.

As the pandemic has dragged on, cities have seen a collapse in the cultural and commercial activities that make urban life exciting. The pandemic has created a vacuum in cultural districts and severely impacted employment in the live entertainment industries, which have retreated online. While physical distancing has saved lives, social isolation and loneliness have emerged as serious public health concerns. Now that a vaccine circulates, the creative and public realms have a unique opportunity to work together to breathe life back into cities. In response to our times, Omaha Mobile Stage is a prototype for a new model of outdoor venue providing a fun and flexible, but safe and serene, place for Omahans re-engage with each other, reactivate public spaces, and reanimate social, creative, and economic life in the city. The project is inspired by the long history of pageant wagons and the original Omaha Show Wagon, built in 1952 and used for many years thereafter.

The first performance season occurred between June and October 2022. See the project website: https://omahamobilestage.org for detailed information.

Team: Al Mundhir Sultan Saif Al Mahruqi, Essa Alouisi, John Andersen, Jarod Bengtson, Payton Betzold, Ethan Boerner, Mason Burress, Brendan Colford, Thomas Gerdes, Audrey Huse, Dariya Krestovsky, Xander Parker, Natasha Pierce, Cameron Spengler, Eden Vanarsdall, Alyssa Villarreal

Phase 2: Jarod Bengtson, Ethan Boerner, Mason Burress, Thomas Gerdes, Xander Parker