Rules

For questions contact Kaylea at Kaylea@livable.org.

Registration and Costs:

• Registration is free and open to the public. Registration for the 2025 season will open in March 2025 at www.OmahaMobileStage.org. 

• Audience admission to all showcases is free and open to the public. 

• Bookings are first come, first served.

Eligibility:

• The competition is open to all performing arts genres, including music, bands, dancing, singing, drama, musical theater, comedy, improv, poetry, spoken word, opera, illusion, and puppetry.

• Competition is open to ages 3 - graduating high school seniors.  

• Competition age divisions are: Preschool (3-5), Youth (6-8), Pre-teen (9-11), Junior (12-14), Senior (15-graduating high school seniors).

• Acts may be made up of individuals or ensembles. Ensemble acts will compete in the age division of the oldest member.

• Contestants may appear in no more than 2 different acts per season. Contestants may not compete with the same act on multiple events.

• This is an amateur contest. Any contestant who is a member of the actors, singers or musicians’ union or recipient of equity may not compete, but is welcome as a non-judged specialty act. Contact Kaylea@livable.org for more information.

Time limits:

• All performances are limited to 4 minutes, plus a reasonable set up and tear down time. The only exception is Battle of the Bands performances, which are limited to 10 minutes, plus a reasonable set up and tear down time.

Themed Showcases: Dance Night and Battle of the Bands

• Dance Night: If your act is within the dance genre–including ballet, modern and contemporary dance, hip-hop, street dance, Latin, ballroom and folk dance, you are highly encouraged to register for Dance Night. If Dance Night is full, please select a showcase with a stage size that fits your performance.

• Battle of the Bands: If you act as a band, you are highly encouraged to register for Battle of the Bands. Bands are highly encouraged to not substitute musicians within their 10 minute time allotment. If there is a need to feature a different mix of musicians, you are highly encouraged to create a second band for this group and enter two bands into the competition.

Stage sizes and surfaces:

• Dance Night at Gene Leahy Mall

  • stage size: 40'W x 40’D

  • surface: concrete with a Marley dance floor covering 36'W x 24'D 

• La Vista Days Youth Talent Show at City Hall Campus

  • stage size: 20’W x 16’D

  • surface: vinyl

• Council Bluffs Youth Talent Show at River’s Edge Park

  • stage size: 16’W  x 12’D

  • surface: vinyl 

• Papillion Youth Talent Show at SumTur Amphitheater

  • stage size: 66’W x 38’D

  • surface: polished concrete

• Battle of the Bands at Millwork Commons

  • stage size: 16’W  x 12’D

  • surface: vinyl 

Judging Criteria for all acts and all showcases:

• Originality, artistry, and creativity (10 points possible)

• Presentation and execution (10 points possible)

• Overall audience appeal (10 points possible)

Interested in judging a competition? Performing Arts professionals from across the metro are invited to join our judges roster. Submit your info here.

Recognition and Advancing to Finals:

• All participants will receive participation ribbons.

• Participants who place 1st, 2nd or 3rd at all events will receive individual medals.

• The 1st place winners of each age division on all showcases will receive a free ice cream treat from eCreamery.

• Winners of each age division, except for Preschool (3-5), of each preliminary showcase will advance to Finals. 

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners at Finals in each age division will receive a Cash Prize.  

Accessibility:

If members of your act or event guests would like to request American Sign Language interpretation or language translators at a talent show series event, please contact kaylea@livable.org at least 7 weeks prior to the event date.

Youth Talent Show Series Recaps

2024

During the summer 2024, the series attracted more than 2,000 audience members and featured 121 unique youth acts, made up of 213 individual youth performers.

In 2024, the series included 5 community-based outdoor competitions, from which the first-place winners of eligible age divisions advanced to a Finals competition at Gene Leahy Mall at The RiverFront.

2023

During the summer 2023, the series attracted more than 2,500 audience members and featured 123 unique youth acts, made up of 234 individual youth performers.

In 2023, the series included 8 community-based outdoor competitions, from which the first-place winners of each age division advanced to a Finals competition at the Omaha Conservatory of Music.

The talent show’s preliminary competitions featured national and local performers as emcees and entertainment, including JoJo and Jessalynn Siwa’s pop group, XOMG POP!, Broadway star and Omaha native Q. Smith, local favorite Nikki Boulay, and the internationally acclaimed blues artist Hector Anchondo.

Finals featured 40 first-place winners.  American film, television and Broadway actress Stephanie Kurtzuba, a former Show Wagon participant and Omaha native, emceed the Finals competition which took place on August 20, 2023.

History

Omaha has a unique legacy of free and public youth talent competitions in outdoor spaces. Beginning in 1952 and lasting for 59 years, the City of Omaha Parks Department operated the Goodfellows Show Wagon as a youth talent competition. In its heyday in the 1970s, the Show Wagon drew hundreds of contestants and thousands of audience members annually from the Omaha area and beyond.

Among many who grew up, raised families and aged in the city during this time, it was a memorable and cherished feature of community life.

Youth Talent Show Program Goals

1. Increase access to the live performing arts for all ages.

This event series is free and open to the public. It provides an equitable platform for youth performers from across the metro to perform on stage in friendly competitions and in front of their peers, performing arts judges, family, friends, and community.

During the summer of 2024, 213 individual youth performing artists participated in the competition across 6 showcases. Youth participants represented more than 37 different zip codes in the Omaha metro.

2. Increase the skills, self-esteem, and confidence of youth performers. 

By performing on stage, youth performers are exposed to a new way of thinking and doing.

Youth performers grow their creative, improvisational, and problem solving skills. Participation builds self-esteem and confidence, as well as provides an opportunity to face personal challenges, such as performance anxiety.

All participants receive immediate positive feedback via roaring applause from the audience. Top performers in each age division are determined by a panel of judges. These top performers are recognized at the end of each showcase and advance to the Finals competition. 

3. Increase tourism spending in the Omaha metro.

The Youth Talent Show program attracts performing arts audiences of all ages to visit tourist and entertainment destinations where our showcases are hosted throughout Douglas, Sarpy, and Pottawattamie Counties.

During the summer of 2024, more than 2,000 audience members attended.