Raw Stages: New Works Festival
Take part in a new script’s first brave steps from the page to the stage!
RAW STAGES: New Works Festival is an opportunity to get an inside look at the script development process and provide feedback for the playwrights. The Festival will feature six staged readings of scripts-in-process, directed and performed by professional artists. Following each reading, audiences will be invited to join a live talkback with the artistic team and cast. Come and be a part of the magic!
Since 1978, History Theatre has produced over 140 world premieres. We are building a new canon of stories with and for our community that shape, reflect, and affect our shared experience. Note: The readings will be performed in the Auditorium at History Theatre, 30 E. 10th Street, St. Paul. All readings are general admission.
Tickets: $15 for individual readings; $45 for All-Access Pass* to readings (limited availability).*Season ticket holders receive 50% off All-Access Pass. Buy 2025-26 Season Pass
Learn more
- History Theatre Unveils Raw Stages Line Up for Fall 2025 (Broadway World, 7/23/25)
Love on a Stick: The State Fair Musical
book by Jeffrey Hatcher
music & lyrics by Chan Poling
directed by Laura Leffler
music director: Raymond Berg
arranger: Robert Elhai
stage manager: Jessica Swanson*
Thursday, October 16, 7:30 pm
A kaleidoscopic musical revue that spans 100 years of Minnesota State Fair history, Love on a Stick follows families, lovers, vendors, big sows, butter sculptures, Teddy Roosevelt and anything you can put on a little piece of wood. A celebration of the color and resilience of the Great Minnesota Get Together.
Cast: McKinnley Aitchison, Ruthie Baker, Gary Briggle*, Wendy Lehr*, Hope Nordquist, Joshua Row, Randy Schmeling*, Dane Stauffer*, Jon Michael Stiff*, Adán Verela* (swing)
Jeffrey Hatcher: History Theatre: The Defeat of Jesse James, Glensheen (Ivey Award), All the Way with LBJ, A Piece of the Rope, Tyrone and Ralph (Ivey Award), Lord Gordon Gordon (with Chan Poling). Theater: Jeffrey’s plays have been produced in hundreds of theaters in the U.S. and around the world, including Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters. TV/Film: Screenplays for Stage Beauty, Casanova, The Duchess, Mr. Holmes, The Good Liar. Television work includes episodes of Columbo, The Mentalist. Grants/Awards: NEA, TCG, Lila Wallace Fund, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Frankel Award, Charles MacArthur Fellowship Award, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Barrymore Award Best New Play, Ivey Life Achievement Award. He is a member and/or alumnus of The Playwrights’ Center, the Dramatists Guild, the WGA, and New Dramatists.
Chan Poling: History Theatre: The Defeat Of Jesse James, Glensheen, Lord Gordon Gordon. Theater: Theatre de la Jeune Lune: 1779: The French Revolution, The Nightingale, Cyrano, Children of Paradise; Illusion Theater: A Night in Olympus; Guthrie Theater: Heaven. Other: Founding member, The Suburbs and The New Standards. Author: Jack & the Ghost, and forthcoming book, The Moons. Awards: The Ivey for Glensheen (also voted “Best of the Decade,” Star Tribune), The Sage Award for Music for Heaven, an Emmy and a Cine Golden Eagle for his documentary film scores. The Suburbs were voted as one of the “Greatest Minnesota Musical Entities of the 20th Century” by the Star Tribune, and the MN Music Awards bestowed Chan with their lifetime “POP” (Perpetually Outstanding Performer) Award. chanpolingmusic.com
Dreamland
by Harrison David Rivers
dramaturg: Erica Rabito
stage directions: Farah Abad
stage manager: Ariel Bodnar-Klein
Friday, October 17, 7:30 pm
The Dreamland Cafe is the place to be if you're Black in 1938 South Minneapolis. A place to debate and discuss; eat, drink and let loose. "Jim Crow" ain't welcome - Cassius and his wife, Florence, make sure of that. But when a mysterious woman finds her way into their lives, everything the couple has built, for themselves and their community, is threatened. Dreamland is a new play about fighting for a better tomorrow - and the people you love.
Cast: Ben Bailey, Davis Brinker, Tolu Ekisola, Jonatha Feld, Michael McKitt, Addie Phelps*, Essence Renae, Bruce A. Young*
Harrison David Rivers is an award-winning playwright, librettist and television writer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Past History Theatre projects include A Crack in the Sky with Ahmed Ismail Yusuf, Parks with Robin Hickman Winfield and A Unique Assignment. His other works include we are continuous (convergence-continuum, Diversionary, Uptown Players, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Geva Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival), This Bitter Earth (Soho Theatre, Seattle Public, TheaterWorks Hartford, InterAct, About Face, Penumbra, NCTC), The Salvagers (Yale Rep), the bandaged place (Roundabout), Last of the Red Hot Mamas with Sue and Lloyd Ecker (Bucks County Playhouse), We Shall Someday with Ted Shen (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Theater Latté Da, Signature Theatre, The Studio Theatre Tierra Del Sol, Transport Group/Public Theatre) and musical collaborations with Benjamin Velez, Jacob Yandura and Rebekah Melocik. His television credits include One of Us Is Lying (Peacock), The Nevers (HBO) and Wytches (Amazon). Harrison is a recipient of McKnight, Jerome and Van Lier Fellowships; residencies with the Siena Art Institute, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown, Geva and Duke University; and commissions from Diversionary, Geva, La Jolla Playhouse and Minnesota Opera. harrisondavidrivers.com
Dayton's
book by Alayna Jacqueline
music and lyrics by Denise Prosek
directed by Rachel Ropella
dramaturg: Josiah Thomas Turner
music director: Wesley Frye
stage manager: Hayley Walsh*
Saturday, October 18, 12pm
With the excitement swirling around Dayton's iconic 8th floor holiday display, this musical follows patrons across generations. Blending nostalgia and joy, it explores how traditions ground us, how they evolve with the families we build, and how new rituals shape who we become. It's a celebration of what we carry forward and the memories we cherish.
Cast: Maje Adams*, KateMarie Andrews, Kym Chambers Otto*, Caitlin Featherstone, Jennifer Grimm*, Annika Isbell, Xan Mattek, Eric Morris*, Carl D. Swanson
Alayna Jacqueline: History Theatre: Dramaturg, The Boy Wonder, Dramaturg, Handprints, Dramaturg, Rollicking! A Winter Carnival Musical Theater:Dramaturg/Writer, East West Players (CA), Seven Devils Playwrights Conference (ID), Theater Mu (MN), Daleko Arts (MN), Phoenix Theater (MN), Market Garden Theatre (MN), Walking Shadow Theatre (MN), Renaissance Theaterworks (WI), National Black Theatre (NY), William Inge Center (KS), Concord Theatricals (NY), Playwrights’ Center (MN), Athena Project (CO), MadLab Theater (OH), Lincoln Theater (OH), Pythian Theater (OH). Plays: All Of The Everything, You Know I’d Never (Even If I Did), Laurie, Laurie An Urban Legend, The Retelling, An Evenging With Ella And Harold, You Know I’d Never (Even If I Did), Drapetomania, Get Broken Like Me, It’s Too Cold For You Here. Other: Hidden Herald Audioplay Project (MN), Theater Begins Here podcast Training: BA in Theater, Otterbein University. MFA in Creative Writing, Goddard College. alaynajacqueline.com
The Old Man's War
by Victor Wishna
directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
dramaturg: Andrew Rosendorf
stage manager: Lee Johnson*
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm
The Old Man's War tells the remarkable true story of August Bondi, an idealistic Jewish immigrant who flees revolution in Europe for America and joins the fight against slavery alongside radical abolitionist John Brown--until he's forced to question whether his hero's righteous war has gone too far. From the streets of Vienna to the prairies of Kansas, Bondi animatedly relives the relationships, battles, and choices that shaped his life and the course of a fractured nation.
Cast: Bob Davis*, Shana Eisenberg (swing), Sophie Javna, Tony Larkin*, David Michaeli (swing), Nancy Marvy*, Scott Witebsky*
Victor Wishna is a husband, father, author, editor, playwright, and commentator, among other things. As a dramatist (and comedist), he has composed nearly a dozen plays, several of which have been staged in multiple time zones. Victor’s newest works include First Generation, commissioned by Spinning Tree Theatre (Kansas City, MO) for a world-premiere production in April 2025, and The Dreidel Players Present…Best Hanukkah Show Ever!, which premiered in Kansas City and New York City in December 2024, and has been published by Dramatists Play Service in 2025. Tree of Life toured nationally with the Jewish Plays Project and debuted at The White Theatre (Overland Park, KS) in September 2024. His short play Thank You for Meeting Me Here, about students confronting antisemitism,” is currently touring high schools in the Kansas City area and beyond. His play DNR has been produced at The Living Room Theatre in Kansas City and was named a semi-finalist in the Blue Ink Playwriting Competition at the American Blues Theater in Chicago. His first full-length play, Shearwater, was selected as a winner of the Panndora’s Box Festival of New Works in Long Beach, Calif., and a finalist in Playhouse on the Square’s New Works @ The Works Playwriting Competition in Memphis.
American Golem: The Kid Cann Story
by Ryan London Levin
directed by Hannah Steblay
dramaturg: Jay Owen Eisenberg*
stage manager: Z Makila* and Mady Davis
Saturday, October 18, 7:00 pm
Escaping Romanian persecution, a Jewish immigrant family - the Blumenfelds - arrive in the American Midwest to pursue religious freedom. Yet they discover that Minnesota is embroiled in its own political turmoil. As they struggle to survive in the streets of Minneapolis, Isadore Blumenfeld finds an opportunity in the 1920s criminal underworld that may give his family the protection they seek.
Cast: Avi Aharoni, Kevin Brown*, David Beukema*, Robert Dorfman*, Jay Owen Eisenberg*, Noah Hynick (swing), David Michaeli, Madeline Rowe, Angela Timberman*, and Julia Valen*
Ryan London Levin (He/Him) is thrilled to be making his Playwriting debut on one of his favorite Twin Cities stages. He's been seen on stage in such shows as Runestone! A Rock Musical, Dirty Business, Orphan Train and many other History Theatre productions. Other local stages include Ten Thousand Things, Children's Theatre Company, Six Points, Theater Latte Da, Jungle Theater, Yellow Tree, Park Square, Artistry, Trademark, SideKick Theater, and many others. FILM/TV work: I Was There (History Channel) The Combination (Short).
Café Au Lait
by Vinecia Coleman
directed by Marcela Michelle
dramaturg: Allison Vincent
stage manager: Hayley Walsh*
Sunday, October 19, 12:00 pm
Nellie Francis, a Black Suffragist from St. Paul in the 1920s, appeals to "History" to have her story forever etched in his book. In order to see her mission through, there is one rule she cannot break: thou shalt not be mean to History. This comedic play explores the Minnesota Suffrage movement through the eyes of Black women.
Cast: Idman Adan, Maggie Cramer*, Tolu Ekisola, Jane Froiland*, Tyler Jennings, Natavia Lewis, Siddeeqah Shabazz
Vinecia Coleman is a playwright and actor based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, whose artistic aim as a writer is to tell stories that focus on the Black female experience. She recently received the Playwrights' Center's Many Voices Fellowship and was named as a 2025 Ojai Playwright Conference finalist. Her plays have been developed at the Great Plains Theatre Commons Conference, Boise Contemporary Theatre’s BIPOC Playwright Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Black Swan Lab, id Theater’s Seven Devils Playwrights’ Conference, and others. Her play Christiana Lysistrata had its 2024 premiere at Main Street Players in Miami, FL. As an actor, she has worked at Penumbra Theatre, Pillsbury House Theatre, Jungle Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Playhouse, and more. MFA: University of Idaho. Website: www.vineciacoleman.com
SALON + BASH
Free events are open to the public and all festivalgoers to dig deeper into the new play development and the New Work being produced across the Twin Cities.
Raw Stages BASH
Twin Cities' New Work Ecosystem
Engage in a lively conversation with playwrights and practitioners of new work as we explore the intricacies of new play development, the art of crafting a history play, and the unique qualities that position the Twin Cities as a hub for new work. Free refreshments provided by Yellowbird Coffee.
- Carlyle Brown: Playwright/performer, curator and artistic director of Carlyle Brown & Company
- Josiah Thomas Turner: Playwright Center Affiliated Writer, Artistic Department Assistant - Guthrie
- Kira Obolensky: Playwright, Core Member of the Playwrights’ Center; History Theatre credits: Hiding in the Open, Stewardess!
- Harrison David Rivers Playwright; History Theatre credits: A Crack in the Sky, A Unique Assignment
* Actor Equity Association (AEA) member