Omaha event to honor influential women in film

Award-winning film and television producer Gale Anne Hurd and director and producer Valerie Red-Horse Mohl will be honored at Omaha's Film Streams theater this weekend.

The women will receive the theater's See Change Wavemaker Award in honor of their significant contributions to cinema.

Hurd, who is the founder of Valhalla Entertainment, is known for the Emmy Award-winning television series "The Walking Dead" and its multiple spinoffs, which include "Fear the Walking Dead" and "Dead City." She also was the producer of the Sundance Award-winning "The Waterdance" and classic films such as "Armageddon," "Tremors," "Aliens" and "The Terminator."

Red-Horse Mohl has worked in the industry for more than three decades, writing, directing and producing more than a dozen award-winning films and television programs. Titles include "Diversity in the Delta" for PBS, "My Indian Summer" for CBS and "Beauty" for NBC. She is of Cherokee ancestry and is the board chair for the national Boys & Girls Clubs Inc. Native Services. She is also a lecturer and board chairwoman for Stanford University's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.

A two-day See Change celebration at the Dundee Theater location of Film Streams will begin at 7 p.m. Friday with a showing of the 1999 movie "Dick," which was produced by Hurd and stars Kristin Dunst and Michelle Williams. The film is the story of two girls who inadvertently become President Nixon's top-secret advisers during the Watergate scandal.

Hurd and Red-Horse Mohl will receive the award in a ceremony after the screening and will then speak about their careers in conversation moderated by Diana Martinez. See Change, launched at Film Streams in 2020, is focused on gender parity for women directors.

This year, Film Streams Executive Director Maggie Wood and her team realized that the lack of representation for women in film and television must be addressed beyond the director's chair to create a more inclusive industry.

"Film is such a collaborative medium, and there are so many opportunities to include women and non-binary people into that process to make it truly inclusive," Wood said in a press release.

A San Diego State University study reports a staggering lack of women in the roles of writer, producer, composer and many others, she said.

"We felt called to help change that narrative," she said, "and we knew it was time to expand the (See Change) initiative.

The second day of the celebration begins Saturday at 2 p.m. with a screening of the 2017 documentary "Mankiller," which explores the legacy of Wilma Mankiller, who was the first woman principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. Red-Horse Mohl directed the film, and there will be a Q&A session after the showing.

For each day, tickets are $50 for the public and $35 for Film Streams members. Weekend passes are also available. More more information and to buy tickets, go to filmstreams.org .

Comedian Wanda Sykes in Omaha

Stand-up comedian, writer and actor Wanda Sykes will perform Friday night at the Holland Center.

Sykes is known for her Emmy Award-winning work on "The Chris Rock Show," as well as roles on "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." She currently stars in "The Upshaws" on Netflix.

She's also been in several films, including "Monster-in-Law," "Evan Almighty" and "License to Wed."

Sykes is also an activist for LGBTQ+ issues and animal rights.

Her performance is at 7 p.m. in the Kiewit Concert Hall at the Holland.

Cell phones, smart watches and accessories will be forbidden at the show. They will be secured in individual Yondr pouches as patrons arrive and will remain sealed until the performance ends. Audience members retain possession of the phones which can be accessed only at designated phone use areas in the venue. Devices will be re-secured before patrons return to the concert hall. Anyone seen using a device during the show will be escorted out.

Tickets, from $64.50 to $79.50. are available at ticketomaha.com .

'Kiss Me Kate' to be at Marcus Majestic Cinema

A filmed version of the London stage production of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate" is coming to Omaha's Marcus Majestic Cinema, 14304 West Maple Road.

The production, one of several revivals of the original 1948 musical, ran this summer with sold-out performances and critical acclaim. It stars Tony Award-winner Stephanie J. Block and multi-award-winning actor Adrian Dunbar. Bartlett Sher is the director.

It tells the story of the out-of-town tryout of a musical based on William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," directed by a pompous Orson Welles-like thespian named Fred Graham and starring his ex-wife Lili Vanessi.

It will be shown at noon Sunday and 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Omaha theater. Tickets are $16.45 and are available at the theater box office or at KissMeKateCinema.com .

Omaha Symphony at Joslyn Sunday

Haydn's Symphony No. 9, "Il Distratto," will be the opening piece of Sunday's Omaha Symphony Joslyn Series concert at Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge St.

Critics and historians say the piece has the warmth, good humor and comedy of errors of its source, a play called "The Absent-Minded Gentleman."

And, along with William Shakespeare's "Macbeth," it inspired the third work on the program, British composer Anna Clyne's "Sound and Fury."

The concert also will feature the symphony's principal trombonist, Patrick Pfister, in a performance of Jan Sandstrom's "Wahlberg Variations," and Alberto Ginastera's "Variaciones Concertantes," in which each variation highlights a different musician of each section.

Guest conductor Nicholas Hersh, music director of the Modesto (California) Symphony, will be at the podium for the 2 p.m. concert.

Omaha Symphony staff members will present a pre-concert talk at 1 p.m., and there will be an art talk at 1:25 p.m.

Tickets, $37, are available at ticketomaha.com .

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