The North Platte Community Playhouse is pleased to announce that their third production of the 2017/2018 season, Willy Wonka the Musical, will open on February 9, 2018.

The delicious adventures experienced by Charlie Bucket on his visit to Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory light up the stage in this captivating adaptation of Roald Dahl’s fantastical tale. Featuring the enchanting songs from the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder and new songs by Leslie Bricusse (Jekyll & Hyde, Doctor Dolittle) and Anthony Newley, Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka is a scrumdidilyumptious musical guaranteed to delight everyone’s sweet tooth.

Performances are February 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18, with Friday and Saturday performances beginning at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday performances beginning at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.northplattecommunityplayhouse.com, at the Playhouse Box Office, Monday-Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., or at the door prior to any performance.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children and students.  Special group rates are available for groups of ten or more. Ticket sales begin Monday, February 5.

Willy Wonka is directed by Scott Carlson with Music Director Sue McKain.

This production is made possible by the support of Nebraskaland National Bank, The Nebraska Arts Council, The Nebraska Cultural Endowment for the Arts and NPCP Patrons.

For more information visit the Playhouse website and like them on Facebook.

 

THE CAST

• WillyWonka…..Max Wohler
• Candy Man…..Scott Carlson
• Phineous Trout…..Benjamin Pearce
• Charlie Bucket…..Levi Luenenborg
• Mrs. Bucket…..Jocelyn Kennicutt
• Mr. Bucket…..Lane Swedberg
• Grandma Josephine…..Becki Wardyn
• Grandpa Joe…..Tyler Cronin
• Grandma Georgina…..Traci Sawyer
• Grandpa George…..Andy Pull
• James…..Jesse Smith
• Matilda…..Avery Luenenborg
• Augustus Gloop…..Connor Robertson
• Mrs. Gloop…..Teagan Lovelace
• Veruca Salt…..Madeline Daup
• Mr. Salt…..Justin Morgan
• Mike Teavee…..Jonah San Miguel
• Ms. Teavee…..Tia San Miguel
• Violet Beauregarde…..Kennedy Pucket
• Mrs. Beauregarde…..Emma Jorgenson

Kids Ensemble….

Kaylee Carlson

Douglas Titman

Cooper Lange

Alec Winney

Taten Perez

Samuel Dekleva

Naomi Dekleva

Nicholas Zurn

Kaiden Dean

Alexis Dean

Tuesday Allen

Makenna Modlin

Taiea Ochoa

Chloe Ballez

Jasmine Smith

Sabrina Sawyer

Mya Larsen

Dakota Guthrie

Hailey Guthrie

Allison Guthrie

Paxton Robertson

Janalliah Bourgeois

Reagan Lampe

Mackenzie Morton

Ella Harmon

Ally Pierce

Kaylen Hansen

Olivia Phillips

Rachel Young

Ingrid Pull

Adult Ensemble….

Toni Guthrie

Daniel Wardyn

Mahaila Botts

Megan Huddle

Sam Fornander

END

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Five Catholic women who were excommunicated from the Diocese of Lincoln in the 1990s due to their membership in a group that pushes for changes in church policies pertaining to women could be allowed to fully participate in services again.

Lincoln Bishop James Conley is offering the five women the opportunity to lift their excommunications on an individual basis.

The women are members of Call to Action, a national organization that calls for the Catholic Church to reform its policies related to women’s ordinations, LGBTQ rights, and other issues.

Then-Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz issued a blanket excommunication of the group in 1996, calling their actions “perilous” to the Catholic faith.

Call to Action members have been working to overturn the excommunication for more than two decades. The group even went to the Vatican in 2006 but wasn’t successful.

Conley, two diocesan officials, and the five women have been discussing lifting the excommunication and making changes within the diocese since September 2016.

“Mostly what’s been happening is sharing our own Catholic journey: why we’re Catholic and how we’re Catholic,” said Patty Hawk, who has practiced in a neighboring diocese since she was excommunicated from Lincoln’s. “We’ve talked a lot about that pain that surrounded the excommunication and just tried to understand each other better.”

Conley’s decision won’t lift the group’s blanket excommunication and only applies to the five women. It will allow them to continue being involved with Call to Action while also taking part in communion and other church sacraments.

“Bishop Conley just desires all Catholics to be in union, so he wants to make that possible for as many people as possible,” said Rev. Nicholas Kipper, spokesman for the Diocese of Lincoln.

The overturning of their excommunication is a sign that engaging in difficult conversations with people of different views can lead to a positive result, Hawk said.

“It matters,” Hawk said. “And it doesn’t just matter in this context; it could be a model for how we can talk across political and social divides in the world right now.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — BNSF railroad is planning to invest $3.3 billion in its railroad again this year.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad said Wednesday it plans to match last year’s spending on maintenance projects and upgrades to its rail network.

BNSF plans to spend $2.4 billion to maintain and repair its rail network and locomotives. That will include rehabilitating 13,000 miles of track.

The railroad’s plans also include investing about $500 million to expand capacity.

BNSF says it is nearly done with the installation of the automatic braking system federal officials required. So the railroad plans to spend only about $100 million on that system this year.

BNSF is owned by Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate. BNSF operates 32,500 miles of track in 28 western states and three Canadian provinces.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts pitched a new version of his property and income tax plan to lawmakers on Wednesday but acknowledged that it still needs some work to pass this year.

Ricketts stressed the need for compromise in his remarks to the Legislature’s Revenue Committee, which will consider several competing plans from rural lawmakers who want to focus purely on property taxes.

“We’ve got to all work together,” Ricketts said. “Not everybody’s going to get what they want, but that’s the nature of compromise.”

The latest version of the governor’s plan won a key endorsement from the Nebraska Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups, although some farm advocates remain staunchly opposed. Critics argue the plan favors the wealthy and doesn’t do enough to address property taxes that have soared since 2006.

Ricketts and the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, both described the bill as a “work in progress” but painted it as an effort to unite business and farm organizations that have been at odds over which taxes to cut.

“I think it’s in everyone’s best interests to try to find a path forward,” said Smith, chairman of the Revenue Committee.

The bill would eliminate Nebraska’s existing property tax credit program, which benefits all property owners regardless of whether they live in the state, and shift the money into a new credit that only helps resident homeowners and agricultural land owners. Corporations would lose their property tax savings but would receive income tax cuts.

A previous version of the measure would also have paid for the property tax credits using leftover money from years when the state collects more revenue than projected. The new plan eliminates those so-called revenue triggers, requiring instead that lawmakers draw about $45 million from the state’s cash reserve this year and adjust for lost revenue in the future.

Under the new plan, resident homeowners would get an income tax credit equal to 12 percent of their property tax bill in 2018, capped at $280. Those numbers would increase gradually until hitting a cap of 30 percent in 2031. The maximum savings at that time would be $780.

Residents who own farm- or ranchland would get a refund equal to 10 percent of their property tax bill as well, with no cap. The percentage would increase at the same rate as the residential tax credit.

The bill would also phase down Nebraska’s top individual income tax bracket, from 6.84 percent to 6.69 percent. Nebraska’s corporate income tax rate would drop from 7.81 percent to 6.69 percent for all taxable income beyond $100,000.

Additionally, the plan would commit $10 million to job training programs.

Some senators on the committee voiced criticism of the plan, noting that the changes made it difficult to know how much it would cost the state.

“My fear is that such steep cuts would leave future legislatures with no option but to raise sales taxes,” said Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha.

Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson said his organization was “generally supportive” of the refundable income tax credits proposed in the measure, but only if they increased to 30 percent of the total tax burden over time.

“While the changes outlined are not perfect, we recognize we are in an ongoing conversation about how best to arrive at property tax relief, and these conversations will continue,” Nelson said.

Nelson and some farm groups have said they’re likely to pursue a property tax ballot measure if lawmakers don’t act this year.

Al Davis, a former state senator now representing the Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska, said the plan doesn’t fix the rising property tax rates that have hurt ranchers throughout the state.

Scott Wagner, a farmer from Hooper, Nebraska, said lawmakers and advocates have spent too much time arguing the issue without major results.

“Instead of bickering about what we should or shouldn’t be doing, let’s figure out the answers,” he said.

Members of the Revenue Committee ended the hearing without taking action on the bill. Smith said they could begin a general discussion of this year’s major tax bills as early as next week.