Take part in a new script’s first brave steps from 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 features four staged readings of scripts-in-process, directed and performed by professional artists. Following each reading, audiences are invited to join a live talkback with the artistic team and cast. Come 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 are performed in the Theater 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.
2026 Raw Stages Festival Readings and Events
Saturday, October 10
1:00 pm Marielitos
book and lyrics by Peter Gil-Sheridan and Cristina Luzárraga
music and additional lyrics by Julián Mesri
directed by Rebecca Aparicio
dramaturgy by Amanda Culp
stage managed by Maria Arreola*
In 1980, thousands of Cuban refugees arrived in the U.S. via the Mariel Boatlift. “Marielitos” were a motley crew of political dissidents, artists, prisoners, “mental patients,” and homosexuals; all eager to escape Castro’s regime. Told through the rhythms of the Caribbean and the Midwest, Marielitos centers around the linguist René Valdes’ quest for belonging, as well as his struggles as a partner and father. This tragicomic musical, both epic and intimate in scope, traces the incredible story of one immigrant’s fight to bridge cultural divides and find his place in the world.
Cast: James Rodriguez*, Janely Rodriguez*, Berto Borroto, Cris Sanchez, Antonié Rios Luna, Joey Miller*, Raquel Ponce, Adan Varela*, Abby Magalee*
3:30 pm Raw Stages Festival Party
Free, RSVP/Tickets required
You’re invited to our 2026 RAW Stages Festival Party! History on stage is an exciting challenge that can spark questions, send us down new rabbit holes of discovery, and give new stories to grapple with—offering a different view of our past, present, and future Let’s take a moment to celebrate the creative artists experimenting with historical stories for the stage and the audience members who are such a crucial part of the development journey. Cheers!
6:00 pm Survival Fit
by Katie Ka Vang
directed by Jennifer Weir
dramaturgy by Emma Busch
stage managed by Jay Owen Eisenberg*
During the Vietnam War in Sam Thong, Laos, five young Hmong nurses dare to dream bigger than they’re allowed, with the guidance of their rebel ancestors.
Cast: Dorothy Vang, Emjoy Gavino*, Ashley Horiuchi*, Megan Kim, Momoko Tanno*
Sunday, October 11
1:00 pm Standing Tall
by R.A. Shiomi
directed by Rich Remedios
dramaturgy by Andrew Rosendorf
stage managed by Liv Pedersen*
This play follows the journey of Gordon Hirabayashi who openly resisted the enforcement of Executive Order 9066—the mass incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent during WWII. With the support of his family and Quaker friends, Gordon refused to register for the exclusion and his case went to the Supreme Court. His was a journey of many ironic twists and turns with the ultimate admission by the government of this miscarriage of justice coming more than forty years later.
Cast: Erik Dagoberg, Addie Phelps*, Sam Bardwell*, Corey DiNardo, Greg Watanabe*, Sandy Augustin*, Jefferson Slinkyard*
4:00 pm Panel: What is a History Play?
Free, RSVP/Tickets required
What is a history play—and what do audiences expect it to be? A biography of a famous or forgotten figure? A story told by your grandmother that you can’t find in history books? A meticulously researched retelling of a historic event—or a work of imagination inspired by history? Where does research end and artistry begin, and how can fact and fiction work together onstage? This panel explores the many ways artists approach the past, the expectations audiences bring with them, and the possibilities that emerge when we rethink what a “history play” can be.
Panelists: Joy Dolo, Jay Owen Eisenberg and Laura Leffler
6:00 pm Evidence of V
book by Laurie Flanigan Hegge
music and lyrics by Jonatha Brooke
directed by Addie Gorlin-Han+
dramaturgy by Wendy Weckwerth
stage managed by Hayley Walsh*
consultant: Sheila O’Connor
story advisor: Ron Peluso
Based on the novel Evidence of V by Sheila O’Connor, published by Rose Metal Press
EVIDENCE OF V, a musical adaptation of Sheila O’Connor’s award-winning book Evidence of V: A Novel in Fragments, Fact, and Fiction, follows Sheila as she pieces together the story of a young girl who, in the 1930s, was incarcerated at the Sauk Centre Home School for Girls after being sentenced to six years for “immorality.”
Cast: Audrey Parker*, Kate Beahen, Jen Burleigh-Bentz*, Nicholas Freeman*, China Brickey*, Eric Morris*, Catherine Podlesak, Maya Pantanowitz, Izzy Spiess
*Denotes artist appearing through an Agreement between History Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
+Denotes a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society