Looking back on 50 years at the Omaha Community Playhouse, Jim Othuse dropped a stunning afterthought. “I always thought I should have been an architect.” Lucky for us he wasn’t. Yet, in a way, he was.
Over an epic career as the Playhouse’s scenic and lighting designer, Othuse has spanned centuries of architecture around the globe. Victorian era? Check out the street scene of “A Christmas Carol.” Tenement housing in NYC? That’s the world of “Annie.” Independence Hall for “1776,” 1930s Berlin for “Cabaret,” Transylvanian Gothic for “Dracula,” a Russian shtetl for “Fiddler on the Roof,” a medieval castle for “The Lion in Winter,” Asian chic for “M. Butterfly.”
Othuse has fed OCP audiences pure eye candy for an astounding 400-plus shows, most with moving pieces and multiple settings. To meet this soft-spoken, warm but shy guy, you’d never guess he’s a theatrical rock star. And it all started with a Lionel train set his dad bought him when he was 7.
Naturally enough, Jim decided the train needed a station. Then a tunnel. A village. Soon the basement of his Williamsburg, Mass., home was his first fully realized set. As his mom took him to Gilbert & Sullivan operettas in nearby Northampton, Jim’s imagination took off. By age 15 he was a scenic-design apprentice for summer stock in New Hampshire. Stars like Walter Pidgeon and Kitty Carlyle Hart were acting on his sets at the Kennebunkport (Maine) Playhouse when he was barely out of high school.
Othuse spent so much time in Boston theaters, checking coats while checking out sets for Broadway tryouts, he dropped out of college after two years. It was a short leap to New York City and the Lester Polakov Studio of Stage Design. While there he whipped up weekly sets for a Christian TV show, “Faith for Today,” and soaked up everything scenic on Broadway.
An assistant stage designer job drew him to Atlanta and an early mentor, Richard Gullickson. It also placed him in the path of Charles Jones, director of the Springer Opera House in nearby Columbus, Ga. Jones, a shrewd judge of budding talent, soon became Othuse’s next mentor, hiring him to design at the Springer. “I was pretty raw, really, in those days,” Othuse recalled. “I learned a lot working with Charles. He was a stickler for detail. He’d always say, ‘It can’t be just any chair. It has to be the right chair.’ I learned to do the right set for the show.”
When Jones became the Playhouse’s new executive director in 1974, he bundled Othuse into the same moving van. Jones was 36, Othuse 29. Their first year in Omaha, they weathered a three-day blizzard that stranded Othuse at the Playhouse. He survived on fried chicken bought as a stage prop. A few months later a tornado ripped open the theater’s roof and destroyed his sets for a 50th anniversary revue. He stuck it out, and the next year Jones’ iconic production of “A Christmas Carol” was born. After that, Othuse never looked back. “Charles didn’t want to leave, and I certainly didn’t want to lose that working relationship. He was also a friend, of course.”
So what are his guiding design principles? It’s all about supporting the story, while staying on budget and meeting deadlines. “You’re always influenced by how Broadway did it, not to copy but to take ideas,” Othuse said. He visits New York often to learn new technology, materials and approaches to design. Carl Beck, who succeeded Jones as OCP artistic director, expressed “total admiration for Jim. I was always amazed how he pushed himself to never become complacent or repetitive. He was always looking for new ways.” Othuse begins with the script, conjuring ideas as he reads and re-reads. Next stop: the show’s director. “I’ve really never disliked ideas directors have asked for,” he said. “You have to figure out how to make that idea work so you’re going to like it too. It’s a collaborative effort.”
Longtime OCP director Susan Baer Collins said trust in Othuse was built on years of knowing each other’s minds. “I’d make statements about the play, and he’d translate that into something wonderful.” From broad concepts to the smallest details, nothing escapes Othuse, said OCP master electrician John Gibilisco. “He’s an amazing set dresser. If he does that, it’s icing on the cake.”
For the late Paul Tranisi — a winner of OCP’s top acting award, the Fonda-McGuire — innovation and collaboration were just part of Othuse’s set magic. “Obviously you want it to be comfortable, functional, safe,” Tranisi said in late 2023. But Othuse’s designs were “a launching pad.” Being on an Othuse set “just helped me grow my character.”
Carolyn Rutherford Mayo, another Fonda-McGuire winner who also managed the Playhouse’s professional Caravan tours, said Othuse may be a creative artist first, but he’s also an amazing scientist. “He knows the science of light. He understands paint, material, fabric and how they work with light.” Bill Van Deest, longtime stage designer at Creighton University, saw Othuse as “the gold standard, a bar to strive for. Design can take control of a show, or it can be appropriate. Jim never crossed that line.”
For designer Steven Williams, head of theatre at UNO, Othuse’s aesthetic is a perfect OCP fit. “Anybody can research a show,” Williams said. “He goes beyond that with his own flair. It’s a quality not all designers can pull off.” Othuse feels lucky to have had 50 years at the Playhouse.
“Resident set and light designers are a rare breed now,” he said. “The thing about residency is [directors and scene-shop staff] know what you’re going to do, and you know what [staffers] are capable of. It makes for a family.” His work ethic of long hours is as legend as the man himself. So what’s he do for fun?
He builds scale models of his Playhouse sets, down to the
last detail. It brings him full circle to Williamsburg and that Lionel train
set that started it all.
