After 29 years of directing Ralston’s acclaimed theater program, Todd Uhrmacher is retiring.

Uhrmacher was involved in choir and theater throughout his youth, and always knew that he wanted to go on to teach the arts. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, working towards an endorsement in teaching vocal music while helping out at the theater when he could.

Eventually, an academic dispute pushed him to pursue theater full-time, and he went on to guide more than 200 productions.

“The vocal music professors accused me of not being dedicated enough because I was spending too much time at the theater,” Uhrmacher said. “And here we are, 37 years later.”

Uhrmacher began his career directing the theater program at Grand Island Senior High, teaching there for eight years before the choir director pushed him to apply at Ralston.

“Even back then, Ralston had a really strong reputation for having a great theater program,” he said. “I thought, well, why not?”

The rest is history. With so many shows to choose from, it’s an unfair question to ask Uhrmacher what his favorite production was. The two productions of “Death of a Salesman” sit near the top of the list, as he taught the play in theater class as well as onstage.

The last show with a full audience was the fall 2019 production of “High School Musical,” which is close to his heart, too. Perhaps the best story is the Nebraska premiere of “Mamma Mia,” which took the stage in 2018.

“I saw it on Broadway years ago and I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to do that show someday,’” he said. “The day that it was released for high schools to do, my fingers were typing on that keyboard to apply for the rights.”

By a single day, Ralston claimed the premiere date over Grand Island — his former school.

COVID-19 brought unprecedented challenges to the theater. Shows were cancelled; the fall 2020 production was acted through face shields and limited to members of students’ households. Though it was awkward and unusual, Uhrmacher was grateful for the opportunity to get the students back on the stage.

But like many other educators, Uhrmacher felt that the end of this chaotic year was an ideal time to retire. As schools struggled to keep students on track academically through online learning, fine arts programs fell by the wayside.

“When your area is almost solely based on creating performance, and now the performance opportunity doesn’t exist, the kids have to focus other places,” he said. “We saw what had been a very strong department kind of slowly disintegrate just by the nature of what was happening.”

Though he is confident in his successor, Uhrmacher realizes that it will be an uphill battle to essentially rebuild the program — especially one with such repute.

For Uhrmacher, the best part of his three decades at Ralston was the community itself. He loved the support and sense of family present in the little town.

“It’s just a wonderful place,” he said. “I had all the luxuries of what I could look for in a city — resources, professionals, and places to shop for supplies — but when you pull it back to just the school and community, it’s just been so heartwarming to be a part of that sense of family.

He won’t be leaving theater for good. He helps with productions at the Ralston Community Theatre and the Bellevue Little Theatre, and he is already on the substitute teacher list for Ralston.

In the meantime, he plans to travel and meet up with old friends. He has a trip planned for Scotland. In the spring, Uhrmacher plans to go on a 17-day cruise from Poland to Austria.

“It’s been a wonderful run,” Uhrmacher said. “I could not have been more blessed.”