While the bare-bones details of Kearney Community Theatre might seem easy to encapsulate in a few paragraphs, it’s simply impossible to bottle up its full value in a single article.

Each production at Kearney Community Theatre comes with its own ecosystem of souls, brought together for a common cause, working diligently toward a goal that enriches their lives in myriad ways. Whether it’s an accountant playing a fairy godmother, or someone’s quiet, unassuming cousin tap dancing up a storm in their favorite musical, there’s no denying the infectious magic of community theatre.

For something as fleetingly beautiful as a play, the only true way to capture that magic is through storytelling; through the cherished memories of the people who left their hearts on the stage, behind the curtain, or in the audience.

Kearney Creates is fortunate to have gathered some of these stories here, but we would love for you to contribute your own, if you have them! With the involvement of so many generations of Kearneyites at KCT, we know there are countless stories out there, waiting to be told, remembered, and discovered.
Stories from the Early Days

Before There Was a Playhouse There Was a Playhouse

“Not many people will remember that before Kearney Community Theater came into being, the theater company called themselves Kearney Playhouse. That was what it was called when my husband, John Haeberle, and I moved back to his hometown of Kearney in October of 1958. As a pharmacist in his father’s drug store on Central Ave, John wanted to become involved with the community, so in March of 1961, John became interested in the local theatre productions.

We had friends and neighbors involved with the ‘Kearney Playhouse’ and they were in the process of casting Stalag 17. Two things helped John get a part, first that he had been in theatre productions in high school and, second, the play called for an all-male cast of 21. Just like the later production of 1776, this meant that, if you were male and mobile, there was no problem getting a part!

John was cast as Corporal Shultz, and performed alongside many men employed at Baldwin Filters Manufacturing Plant in Kearney, as well as many members of the local Masonic Lodge. There were a few lawyers, judges, and medical professionals besides, all as eager to have some fun as to be on stage!

Because the production took place in Germany in World War II, the cast needed to know some German. Ted Baldwin and Ellen Baldwin were also new to Kearney and she was from Germany. Ellen joined the ‘Baldwin crew,’ becoming a big help by tutoring the actors on the customs and language of Germany!

Stalag 17 was performed in what was then the ‘new’ Kearney High School auditorium on Saturday, March 11, and Monday March 13, 1961! That left better than two weeks before our second daughter was born on March 29, 1961!”
–Mary Haeberle

It Was No Picnic. Wait. That’s Just What It Was!
“It was just 19 years after John debuted in Stalag 17 that I became actively involved with KCT. Guess I was busy raising a family in the meantime. Once I was in, though, I was in for good—as I write this in 2021, I’m still on the board! It was 1980 when Gail Lowenberg asked if I would be interested in auditioning for a role in the show she was directing, Picnic. After auditions, Gail assigned me the part of Rosemary Sydney, a school teacher, played in the movie by Rosalind Russell!

Our production starred Mitch Bean and Bets Lundeen. For my role, playing opposite Bob Hobbs meant we had to dance together. Bob was a very good dancer. And soon found out I had two left feet! Anyway, we managed! My favorite part of the show was a scene in which the woman I was playing got a little tipsy and, while flirting with Mitch’s character, Hal, tore his shirt off! Real drama! A delightful person named Helenmarie Murphy played a neighbor in the show.”
–Mary Haeberle 

Gin, Games, and The Gin Game
“In 1983, Rick Marlatt directed the first of his many productions for KCT – The Gin Game, a two person show about a man and a woman in a nursing home. Don Maroncelli, owner of a pet store in town, and I were cast as Weller and Fonsia. The title comes from the game of gin rummy Weller and Fonsia play throughout the show. Fonsia won every time! The script calls for Fonsia to say the F-word and we did not delete that line! Fonsia says the F-word and then says, ‘I’ve never said that word before!’ Actually, the first time I had said ‘that word’ was when I had auditioned for the show!

However that makes it sound, The Gin Game was a funny, heartwarming, thought-provoking show. At that time, KCT was still a couple of years away from having its own stage, so we rehearsed in Don Maroncelli’s living room and in our basement and put on our shows in the Experimental Theatre in the basement of the Fine Arts Building at what was then Kearney State College.

This show turned out to be very popular; apparently audiences could relate to two characters in a nursing home! Because of the popularity, we performed it in many venues, including the former Elks Club. We also took The Gin Game to Red Cloud and Superior, Nebraska, as well as other surrounding towns. Don and I so enjoyed the show that we agreed to perform it for the Nebraska Pharmaceutical Convention when they met in Kearney! We even took the show to a state contest for community theaters in Columbus, Nebraska! The Gin Game didn’t win—every performance was a challenge—but each performance was fun. The run was a great success, and gave us many laughs and many friends. Like all two-person shows, it was of course a lot of work, but it gave us and KCT so many memories.”
–Mary Haeberle

“A funny story from The Gin Game: Don Maroncelli wrote out some of his harder-to-remember-lines on the card table. One night someone turned the card table so the lines were not in front of him. Mary Haeberle could see them, but not Don! He did a lot of improvising, and Mary had to keep the show on track.”
–Jeff Knapp

This is Your Cue!
Do you have stories from this era of Kearney Community Theatre, before it found its first home on Avenue A? If so, we would love to collect them. Whether you’d like to write them out and send them to us, or have one of our editors listen to you tell your tale, we are excited to immortalize them here at Kearney Creates!

To contact Kearney Creates please use the contact links at the top of this webpage.