A comedy about a Duran Duran fan, the story of Minneapolis jazz singer Doris Hines and a new musical about the St. Paul Winter Carnival are on tap for the History Theatre’s newly announced 2025-26 season.

“Looking ahead at this season we hope you’ll discover untold stories that reach across the nation as well as our own back yard,” said managing director Karen Meuller in a news release. “From the East Side neighborhood of St. Paul where boyhood friends Harry Blackmun and Warren Burger grew up to become Supreme Court Justices to downtown St. Paul’s winter castle showcase designed by architect Clarence Wesley ‘Cap’ Wigington this season is truly full of discovery and achievement.”

Season subscriptions are $299 (five shows), $255 (four shows) and $202 (three shows), with discounts available for seniors. Current subscribers can renew now, with sales opening to new subscribers on May 15. Single tickets go on sale July 19. See historytheatre.com for details.

The lineup includes:

“Don’t Miss Doris Hines” (Sept. 18-Oct. 12): This show by TyLie Shiders tells the story of Doris Hines, a local nighclub singer determined to establish a career in show business. The title comes from something Nat King Cole reportedly told Ella Fitzgerald, who did indeed see Hines live. Hines is the mother of Sounds of Blackness director Gary Hines.

“Rollicking! A Winter Carnival Musical” (Nov. 20-Dec. 21): When St. Paul city architect Clarence “Cap” Wigington is tasked with designing an ice palace for the Winter Carnival, he and his wife, Viola, get much more than they bargain for when the magic of the carnival enters their lives. Keith Hovis and Rachel Teagle wrote this new musical, which explores “the strange and wonderful world of the St. Paul Winter Carnival and the resilience, imagination and heart that make Minnesota such a wonderful place, especially in the snow.”

“Whoosh!” (Jan. 29-Feb. 22): First seen at the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival, this comical ghost story is performed by solo artist Andrew Erskine Wheeler, who portrays multiple characters involved in Minneapolis’ St. Anthony Falls in the days immediately following the state’s involvement in the Civil War. Folk band the Lost Forty will accompany the production.

“Hungry Like the Wolf” (March 19-April 12): Sandra Struthers, who has starred in the History Theatre’s popular “Glensheen,” wrote this comedy that blends narrative storytelling, sketch comedy, off-kilter game shows a host of ’80s hits. It explores the first American bank strike and fight for women’s labor rights, an ’80s TV movie flop, a starlet’s battle with McCarthyism and a young woman’s obsession with Duran Duran.

“Courting Harry” (May 14-June 7, 2026): A revisit of a History Theatre classic by Lee Blessing follows Minnesota natives Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice Harry Blackmun, best friends growing up in the same St. Paul neighborhood, who remained close despite their differing career paths, not to mention their often conflicting personal and political ideologies.

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