History Plays
Landmark Center’s History Play performance series is a theater program designed to bring to life many of the trials, court decisions, legal ramifications, and other related events that were relevant to Landmark Center when it was the Federal Courts Building. Noted Twin Cities judges, legal practitioners, and academics often trade robes for costumes to bring the events to life.
Little Rock, 1942
October 3 & 4, 7 pm | October 5, 2 pm, 2024
With an all-star cast of Twin Cities lawyers and judges, 2024’s History Play is the true story of a civil rights lawsuit that brought Thurgood Marshall to St. Paul, and led to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Watch 2024’s History Play in its entirety, recorded Thursday, October 3, 7pm.
In 1942, Sue Cowan Williams, formerly known as Susie Morris, head of the Dunbar Junior College English Department and a member of the Little Rock Classroom Teachers Association, sued the school district for equal pay for black teachers. With the assistance of Thurgood Marshall, an attorney from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Williams won her case in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Landmark Center’s History Play performance series is a theater program designed to bring to life many of the trials, court decisions, legal ramifications, and other related events that were relevant to Landmark Center when it was the Federal Courts Building.
A play by Terrance C. Newby and James Lundy. Directed by Chad Snyder
Frost/Nixon presented by Theatrex
April 12-13 | April 20-21, 2024
THE STORY
Following Richard Nixon’s fall from grace, resignation from the Presidency, and subsequent pardon, the American people are left searching for answers. The truth the nation so desperately needs may come in the most unlikely place – a “puff piece” interview with lowbrow British talk show host David Frost. The two titans meet in a surprising battle of words and wits.
THE SETTING
THEATREX is performing FROST/NIXON in a historic courtroom at Landmark Center, a former federal courthouse. This gives the audience a front row seat to one of the most pivotal stories in American politics. Richard Nixon never got his day in court to answer for his crimes. We thought we’d change that.
War, Resistance, and Protest: The Trial of the “Minnesota 8”
October 5th & 6th – 7 pm | October 7th – 2 pm, 2023
Watch 2023’s History Play in its entirety, recorded Saturday, October 7, 2 pm.
Where are they now? Discussion with six members of the “Minnesota 8”
With an all-star cast of Twin Cities lawyers and judges, 2023’s History Play takes place in 1970, the year the anti-war movement intensified among college students who were protesting President Richard M. Nixon’s military efforts in Vietnam. On trial was the Minnesota 8, students with connections to the University of Minnesota, arrested for breaking into draft offices throughout the state in attempt to destroy draft records.
Landmark Center’s History Play performance series is a theater program designed to bring to life many of the trials, court decisions, legal ramifications, and other related events that were relevant to Landmark Center when it was the Federal Courts Building. Noted Twin Cities judges, legal practitioners, and academics often trade robes for costumes to bring the events to life.
History Plays are produced by Landmark Center and recorded by SPNN. Want to see past History Plays and Trial Reenactments? Visit Landmark Center’s YouTube channel – Trial Reenactment playlist.