Kevin Barrett Explores Family, Memory and Healing in Orange Julius

July 8th, 2026

For more than four decades, Kevin Barrett has stepped onto Omaha stages and inhabited countless characters. But his latest role feels different, not because of the person he plays, but because of the questions the story leaves behind.

Barrett stars in Orange Julius, a new production by Omaha theater company Voices in Alliance, opening at the Shelter Belt. He plays Julius, a Vietnam veteran facing terminal cancer connected to Agent Orange exposure, the same experience that gives the play its title.

“He’s dying of cancer after serving in Vietnam and exposure to Agent Orange, hence Orange Julius,” Barrett said.

But the play is not only about Julius. At its center is a complicated relationship between a father and child, a young transgender person trying to understand a parent who spent much of their life feeling distant and unreachable.

A Relationship Told Through Memories

Written as a nonlinear story, Orange Julius moves between memories, imagined moments, and flashbacks within flashbacks. The audience experiences the fractured nature of a relationship shaped by years of silence, misunderstanding, and love.

One of the play’s most powerful moments comes when the son imagines standing alongside his father during the Vietnam War, a conflict he never experienced but one that shaped the person his father became.

Barrett acknowledges that the structure asks audiences to stay engaged.

“It’s a little bit of a challenge for the audience in that they’re going to have to really pay attention to sort of understand what part of what’s happening from scene to scene,” he said. “That’s part of our job, too, as performers, we have to help take the audience along for the ride.”

As the story unfolds, what appears to be a tale of separation becomes something more complicated. The son begins the play believing he never truly had a relationship with his father. But over time, both the character and the audience discover that connection existed, even if it was hidden beneath years of pain and silence.

“As the play goes on, they really come to realize they did have a strong relationship with their father,” Barrett said.

More Than One Story

Although the play features a transgender character, Barrett believes Orange Julius is ultimately a story about family.

“It doesn’t dwell on the trials and tribulations of being a trans person,” Barrett said. “It’s really more about a family and what families go through.”

The play explores the experiences of a mother, a sister, and a child dealing with a father who is a dying veteran battling dementia and cancer.

Despite those heavy themes, Barrett says audiences should not expect an overwhelmingly dark experience. The roughly 90-minute production also includes moments of humor, tenderness, and humanity.

Four Decades of Theater in Omaha

For Barrett, the role is another chapter in a long relationship with Omaha’s theater community.

Originally from Irwin, Iowa, a small town in Shelby County, Barrett came to Omaha as a graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha when the university still offered a master’s program in theater. He planned to study, but Omaha became home.

Throughout his career, Barrett has performed and worked with organizations including the Rose Theater, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, and Omaha Community Playhouse. He also spent two decades teaching theater at Omaha Public Schools, first at Benson High School and later at Omaha South High School.

Now retired from teaching, he continues his connection with the arts as an adjunct instructor at UNO, a stage combat choreographer, and a master artist with the Nebraska Arts Council’s Artists in Schools program.

Part of what attracted Barrett to Orange Julius was the mission of Voices in Alliance, a local theater company focused on LGBTQ stories and voices.

“They’re really committed to doing these strong LGBTQ productions that focus on very current issues,” he said.

A Story Up Close

The production’s home at the Shelter Belt creates an intimate experience, with a performance space designed to bring audiences closer to the actors and the emotions of the story.

For Barrett, that closeness reflects the heart of the play itself, a story about the distance between people and the moments that help bridge that gap.

“I feel fortunate to be able to be involved in this production,” Barrett said. “I think it has a lot to say about families, about relationships and, you know, the future.”

Orange Julius invites audiences to consider the conversations left unfinished, the connections overlooked, and the possibility of understanding someone before it is too late.

If You Go

Orange Julius is produced by Voices in Alliance and performs at the Shelter Belt in Omaha. For tickets and production information, visit Voices in Alliance’s website.