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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The pastor of a Georgia megachurch who led a nationwide 40-day “fast” boycott of Target stores over the retail chain’s commitment to diversity initiatives is now calling for that effort to continue as a “full Target boycott.”

The Rev. Jamal Bryant said this week that the Minneapolis-based retailer has not met all of the boycott effort’s demands. Among them: Restoring its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion principles and pledging money to Black-owned banks and businesses.

Target announced in January that it would phase out a handful of DEI initiatives, including a program designed to help Black employees build meaningful careers and promote Black-owned businesses. Conservative activists and President Donald Trump have sought to dismantle DEI policies in the federal government and schools.

Bryant is the pastor of one of the South’s largest churches, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Ga., just outside Atlanta. The 40-day “fast” of Target stores coincided with the beginning of Lent on March 5, and other faith leaders endorsed the protest.

Target did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment by phone and by email on Wednesday.

“Until Target comes to the table with serious, concrete proposals to meet our four demands, we will remain in this posture,” Bryant said on a website dedicated to the boycott effort.

“Silence and delay are no longer acceptable,” he added. “Our communities deserve action, not platitudes. Our demands are not radical — they are righteous, reasonable, and long overdue.”

Target operates nearly 2,000 stores nationwide and employs more than 400,000 people.

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The city of St. Paul may yet lower the volume on a two-day electronic dance music celebration scheduled to light up the grounds outside Allianz Field in June.

Days after urging the city council to approve a sound-level variance for the Breakaway Music Festival at decibel levels objected to by city staff, a key council member has had a change of heart.

“This is something we had a lot of robust conversation around last week,” explained Council Member Anika Bowie, whose political ward encompasses Allianz Field.

Bowie asked the council on Wednesday to redo its 4-2 vote from a week prior and lower the decibel limits to those recommended by the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections, for two reasons. First, neighbors living near Allianz Field never received notice there would be an April 16 public hearing about the sound-level variance.

Following last week’s council vote, “we unfortunately recognized that the public notices had been drafted, but the all-important part of hitting send did not occur,” said DSI Director Angie Wiese, explaining the snafu to the council.

As a result, the public will get a second chance to weigh in before the council during a public hearing to be held May 14.

In addition to the new public hearing, Bowie on Wednesday asked the council to amend the sound-level variance resolution, reverting to an earlier version that includes lower decibel limits recommended by DSI. The amended limits will be finalized following the May 14 hearing.

Bowie receives strong feedback

Bowie said she had received strong feedback from the executive director of the Union Park District Council and other concerned critics who “shared disappointments around the process. We want to make sure we can rectify this.”

The amended decibel limits and new hearing date were approved together on Wednesday, 6-0, without further discussion. Council Vice President HwaJeong Kim was absent.

Organizers have said their inaugural St. Paul celebration last summer drew 24,000 fans and $2 million in ticket sales, generating as much as $6 million in spending for the region.

Critics as far as Mendota Heights complained of window-rattling noise likely well above approved limits, leading organizers this year to promise sound-shielding improvements, including hourly testing of noise levels and better speakers aimed at the sports stadium instead of Cub Foods.

Organizers may pull out without higher sound limit

The festival returns to the grounds outside Allianz Field on June 6 and June 7, but organizers have said they may pull out if they don’t get a higher sound limit than the decibel levels recommended by DSI.

The Breakaway Music Festival was approved last week for a sound-level variance 103 decibels at 125 feet from the main stage, as well as a limit of 101 decibels at 100 feet from a secondary stage. Both limits are above the noise levels associated with a typical outdoor concert, or even a construction site, DSI staff said.

City staff have recommended a sound limit of 100 decibels at 100 feet from the main stage, and 99 decibels at 75 feet from the secondary stage.

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Apple Valley-based Wings Credit Union on Wednesday announced a merger with Ent Credit Union, of Colorado Springs, Colo., with the combined company taking on the Wings name and be led by Chad Graves, CEO of Ent.

The combined company will 91 locations in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, Graves said in a news release. The boards of directors from each credit union unanimously approved the merger.

Wings, with $9.7 billion in assets and 371,000 members, according to a news release, and Ent ($9.9 billion, 560,000 members) are calling it a merger of equals and expect to be legally combined in 2026. They will serve nearly 1 million members, predominantly in Minnesota and Colorado.

Members will not experience any immediate change, the news release said, and both credit unions will continue to operate independently while the merger process goes through regulatory approval and a member vote.

“With shared roots in aviation, the name Wings Credit Union celebrates our unique legacies and the positive impact ahead. While our geographic footprint may be different, our values and culture are strongly aligned,” said Frank Weidner, president and CEO of Wings Credit Union.

Wings has its roots serving workers at the former Northwest Airlines, which was based in Eagan. Ent served workers at the former Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, which was a precursor to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD); the former base is now the site of the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

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