Nine to Five: Our Feature Presentation(s)

It’s a stroke of serendipity that our fifth anniversary comes within a week of Feature IV, this Sunday’s celebration supporting the Ruth Sokolof Theater. As we get ready to welcome Jane Fonda to Omaha this weekend(!!), we also take a look back at our three previous Feature events. Before we do, a very, very special thanks to our amazing board member Alexander Payne, who has personally invited all of our Feature special guests to Omaha and contributed so much to making each event a success, and to our wonderful Honorary Chair for Feature IV, Susie Buffett.

FEATURE 2008 | Sunday, July 13, 2008
Special Guest Laura Dern in conversation with Alexander Payne.
Event Chairs: Betiana & Todd Simon.

Alexander Payne and Laura Dern at Feature 2008

“I spent my summer vacation going back and forth between two sets watching my parents (Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd) work with Scorsese and Hitchcock. What I learned that summer was that you could do each take with variety, be extreme, be bold.” –Laura Dern

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FEATURE 2009 | Sunday, September 13, 2009
Special Guest Debra Winger in conversation with Alexander Payne.
Event Chairs: Annette & Paul Smith.

Debra Winger and Alexander Payne at Feature 2009

“I [chose roles] that I couldn’t bear someone else doing… If the business wasn’t in the state it’s in, I’d do more. I have unbelievable stories inside me.” –Debra Winger

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FEATURE III | Sunday, February 20, 2011
Special Guest Steven Soderbergh in conversation with Kurt Andersen; Introduction by Alexander Payne. Event Chairs: The Weitz Family.

Kurt Andersen and Steven Soderbergh at Feature III

“The making of any art is just problem-solving. As you work at it, your filtering system gets better. You’re able to eliminate the versions that aren’t any good faster. But at a certain point, the solves sort of become the same. And when I started feeling like, I’ve done this shot before, I’ve done a scene that’s about this before, when that started to happen, that’s when I started thinking seriously about a shift, because I don’t like that feeling, I don’t like that feeling of repeating something I’ve done, even if it was a good thing.” –Steven Soderbergh