Howells Opera House is a historic opera house located in Oakley, Idaho, on Blaine Street. The opera house is registered with the Idaho State Historical Society. [1] The Opera house was built by the first prosecuting attorney for Cassia County, Judge B.P. (Benjamin Price) Howells. [2] The building construction began in 1904 and was completed in 1907 for the cost of $22,000 ($757,000 adjusted for inflation today). The opera House is currently owned and operated by the Oakley Valley Arts Council. It has been known by several names, including the Oakley Playhouse (c. 1907), Cassia County Playhouse (c. 1929), and most notably as the Howells Opera House.
The opera house has a square gable false front with a central door flanked by segmental-arched openings. The building was constructed using a local variety of quartzite referred to as Oakley stone. [3] The performance floor features seating for around 300 people. [4]
The Oakley Valley Arts Council has kept a record of performances from 1974 to the present. Past performances include such operas as The Diary of Anne Frank , The Mikado , and The Pirates of Penzance . [5]
During the 1970s, when the opera house had fallen into a state of disrepair and demolition of the house was being discussed, the performing arts community within Oakley formed the Oakley Valley Arts Council and purchased the house. Today the Oakley Valley Arts Council continues to put on seasonal performances here.
The opera house is the subject of several ghostlore stories. [2] [6] One story suggests that there is a female apparition with black hair who can be seen watching the performances from behind the stage. [7] Another story relates that an older gentleman's ghost can be seen stalking the grounds of the house, with some variations suggesting that this particular ghost is that of original owner, Benjamin Howells. [8]
Cassia County is a county in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2010 Census the county had a population of 22,952. The county seat and largest city is Burley. Cassia County is included in the Burley, ID Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Blaine County is a county in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 24,272. The county seat and largest city is Hailey. It is also home to the Sun Valley ski resort, adjacent to Ketchum.
Albion is a city in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 234 at the 2020 census. Albion was the county seat of Cassia County from 1879 to 1918.
Burley is a city in Cassia and Minidoka counties in southern Idaho, United States. The population was 10,345 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Cassia County.
Oakley is a city in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. The population was 763 at the 2010 census, up from 668 in 2000. It is part of the Burley Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Theatrical superstitions are superstitions particular to actors or the theatre.
Kitty Carlisle Hart was an American actress, singer, and spokeswoman for the arts. She is best remembered as the leading lady of the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera (1935) and as a regular panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth (1956-1978). She served 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts.
The Magic Valley is a region in south-central Idaho constituting Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Twin Falls counties. It is particularly associated with the agricultural region in the Snake River Plain located in the area. The northern Magic Valley region — particularly Blaine and Camas Counties — is also known as the Wood River Valley after the Big Wood River.
Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera. It commenced operations in January 2006 with Richard Gill as Artistic Director. Richard Mills is the current Artistic Director. The company is supported through government funding, patron contributions and corporate sponsorship.
Albion State Normal School was a public institution of higher learning the western United States, located in Albion, Idaho. Established by the Idaho Legislature in 1893, it was one of two normal schools in the state. Citizens of Albion had actively lobbied for the school's establishment, and donated land and labor for the new campus.
Almo is a very small unincorporated community in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. It is a short distance away from the City of Rocks National Reserve, a 14,300-acre (58 km2) area with granite columns as much as 600 feet (180 m) high.
Oakley stone is the trade name of a building stone that occurs in the mountains of southern Idaho in the western United States. It is more properly known as Rocky Mountain quartzite or Idaho quartzite, a metamorphic rock. The stone is quarried south of the city of Oakley in Cassia County, northeast of the three-state border with Nevada and Utah. The quarries are located on the west slope of Middle Mountain in the Albion Mountains, northwest of the City of Rocks National Reserve.
The Burley Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in the Magic Valley region of Idaho, anchored by the city of Burley. It is commonly referred to locally as the "Mini-Cassia" area, an amalgam of Minidoka and Cassia Counties.
Burley High School is a four-year secondary school in Burley, Idaho, the largest of four traditional high schools in the Cassia County School District #151. Its official title is Burley Senior High School and it has only had its 2100 Park Ave. address since the doors opened for the Spring Semester of 1999. The previous school was built in the 1950s, residing at the locally known address of #1 Bobcat Boulevard, and the building still exists as a satellite campus for the College of Southern Idaho. Until the 2006–07 school year, it was exclusively a three-year senior high school, with the freshman class attending Burley Junior High School.
Steve Blanchard is an American stage actor best known for his musical theatre roles, being most closely associated with the role of Beast in the musical Beauty and the Beast, which he played on Broadway for eight years. In recent years, he has played the role of "Pa" in several regional theatre productions of the musical version of Little House on the Prairie. He also guest stars in television roles.
Goose Creek is a 123-mile (198 km) long tributary of the Snake River. Beginning at an elevation of 7,239 feet (2,206 m) in the Cassia Division of the Sawtooth National Forest in southwestern Cassia County, Idaho, it flows south into Elko County, Nevada, and loops back around into Cassia County, briefly crossing Box Elder County, Utah, in the process. It is impounded by Oakley Dam several miles south of Oakley, Idaho, forming Lower Goose Creek Reservoir. All of the creek's water is stored for irrigation, so its channel from the reservoir to its mouth near Burley, Idaho, is dry and largely obliterated by agriculture. Goose Creek has a 1,120-square-mile (2,901 km2) watershed. The California Trail followed Goose Creek from a point just north of the Idaho/Utah border southwest across northwestern Utah to Little Goose Creek in northeastern Elko County, Nevada.
Lower Goose Creek Reservoir is a lake located 4,734 feet (1,443 m) above sea level, south of the town of Oakley in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. Oakley Dam impounds the reservoir's primary inflow, Goose Creek. All of the creek's water is stored in the reservoir for irrigation. Lower Goose Creek Reservoir covers an area of 1,006 acres (407.1 ha).
Idaho Legislative District 27 is one of 35 districts of the Idaho Legislature. It is currently represented by Senator Kelly Anthon, Republican of Declo, Representative Scott Bedke, Republican of Oakley, and Representative Fred Wood, Republican of Burley.
National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, also known as Weiwuying,, is located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan and has been acknowledged as the largest performance arts center under one roof in the world while owning the largest pipe organ in Asia. The site was originally a military compound and was reconstructed as an arts centre. With its 14,000 square meter complex, the arts centre contains four indoor performance halls and an amphitheater for outdoor performances.
Coordinates: 42°14′40″N113°53′03″W / 42.24442°N 113.88417°W