Nebraska’s Brownville Village Theatre Brings Professional Drama to Small Town

September 19th, 2025

In the small historic town of Brownville, population roughly 130, professional theater thrives in an unlikely setting that proves community arts can flourish anywhere.

Rachel Curtiss, artistic director of Brownville Village Theatre since 2017, never imagined her career would come full circle to the venue where she first performed as a college student decades ago. Now she and her husband, Mitchell Bean, oversee the theater that continues to draw audiences from across the region.

“I don’t really know if I could have predicted this path,” Curtiss said. “But it feels right to me.”

Curtiss caught the theater bug growing up in Wichita, Kansas, where high school acting led her to community college and then Wichita State University. While in college, she auditioned for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which connected her to summer programs including one at Brownville Village Theatre.

That early experience at Brownville introduced her to professional theater, eventually leading to four years working in Chicago’s theater scene before settling in Omaha. The college student program that brought Curtiss to Brownville still operates today, continuing to connect emerging artists with the historic venue.

Since returning to Nebraska, Curtiss has expanded her artistic pursuits beyond acting to include playwriting. She enrolled in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing program, drawing on creative writing interests that began early in life.

“It sounds perfect for someone who wants to write plays and specifically what I wanted to write,” Curtiss said of the program.

The opportunity to bring unique subject matter and original writing to Brownville creates emotional connections that extend beyond the stage, impacting both performers and audiences in the intimate theater setting.

“Specifically where we do art, it’s a very intimate space,” Curtiss said. “People are really grateful for their experiences.”

The theater’s next production showcases those UNO connections. “4 A.M. Friends,” written by UNO faculty member and playwright Charlene Donaghy, will run October 10-12 at Brownville Village Theatre.

“It’s a play about four women who meet at 4 in the morning at a diner, and it’s really about women’s friendships,” Curtiss explained.

The production represents the kind of thoughtful programming that has defined Curtiss and Bean’s leadership of the theater. They focus on works that resonate with audiences while providing meaningful experiences for performers.

Brownville Village Theatre’s success challenges assumptions about where professional theater can thrive. Located in Nebraska’s oldest incorporated town along the Missouri River, the venue attracts audiences willing to travel for quality productions in an intimate, historic setting.

The theater operates in a restored 19th-century building that adds to the unique atmosphere. Productions benefit from the town’s preserved historic character, creating an immersive experience that extends beyond the performance itself.

Curtiss’s journey from college student performer to artistic director illustrates how community theaters can serve as launching pads for professional careers while providing cultural anchors for rural communities. Her path through Chicago’s theater scene and UNO’s graduate program brought diverse experiences back to Brownville.

The theater continues the college partnership that originally brought Curtiss to Brownville, ensuring new generations of students experience professional theater in small-town Nebraska. This connection helps sustain both the theater’s mission and its audience base.

For Curtiss, leading Brownville Village Theatre represents more than career advancement. It’s about proving that meaningful art can happen anywhere, connecting communities through shared stories and experiences.

The upcoming production of “4 A.M. Friends” exemplifies this mission, bringing contemporary playwriting about universal themes to audiences in historic Brownville. The collaboration between UNO’s writing program and the village theater demonstrates how academic and community arts can support each other.

Tickets for “4 A.M. Friends” are available through the theater’s website. The production runs October 10-12, continuing Brownville Village Theatre’s tradition of bringing professional drama to small-town Nebraska.

For more information about Brownville Village Theatre and upcoming productions, visit www.brownvillevillagetheatre.com.