Jesse James in the 'Raw'

History Theatre's "Raw Stages" festival this month will give theater lovers a behind-the-scenes look at the development of four new shows, including the latest from the team that brought us the smash musical "Glensheen." Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling will workshop "Jesse James: The Musical," focusing on 1887's famously botched Northfield bank robbery and its aftermath (2 p.m. Jan. 18). Another legend with Minnesota ties is Gordon Parks, the famed photographer, writer ("The Learning Tree") and filmmaker ("Shaft") who was a St. Paul resident in his youth. He's the protagonist of "Parks," a new play by Harrison David Rivers and Robin Hickman (Parks' niece) that will be read at 2 p.m. Jan. 19. The festival opens at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16 with "Wilson's Girl," which revisits a 1959 meatpacking plant strike through the eyes of a girl from Albert Lea, Minn. Written by Eva Barr, it's based on a memoir by Cheri Register. "Swede Hollow," by Alexander MØrk Eidem, rounds out the series at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17. It's based on Ola Larsmo's novel about Swedish immigrants who settled in the St. Paul neighborhood in the 1890s. Tickets are $15 per reading or $30 for a four-play package, at historytheatre.com.

CHRIS HEWITT

Mike Day has hired Bryan Cranston, star of TV's "Breaking Bad," to narrate the Imax documentary "Ancient Caves," which will have its world premiere at the Science Museum of Minnesota in March. Day, who has produced more than a dozen Imax films as the museum's vice president and executive producer of the Omnitheater, recently retired from full-time work but stayed on hand to oversee the theater's conversion to digital and to wrap up work on the new film. Cranston's "narration is superb and a great complement to the voice-over of British paleoclimatologist Gina Moseley, who stars in the film," Day said. The Omnitheater started showing trailers for the film last week.

JEFF STRICKLER

Minnesota-raised art critic Peter Schjeldahl penned an essay for the Dec. 23 issue of the New Yorker magazine that's not about art. It's about his own life, which is drawing to an end. Four months ago Schjeldahl, 77, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Though he's been in New York since 1965, and a New Yorker critic for two decades, the Fargo-born writer came of age in Farmington and graduated from Carleton College in Northfield. The Schjeldahl name may sound familiar. His father invented airplane sickness bags, among other innovations, and founded Sheldahl, a company that produces printed electronics. In his essay "The Art of Dying," the writer recounts his first smoke at age 16 behind the Northfield High School bleachers, and writes colorfully of his early drinking days (he eventually got sober): "In a car with high-school classmates after a picnic party somewhere in rural Minnesota — a bottle had been passed, and I would have proof that Cheetos were on the bill of fare — I said to stop. I tumbled out and barfed beside the road. The vomit was bright orange. It puddled on bright-green grass. The summer sky was bright blue. I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful."

ALICIA ELER

Reflecting a new openness to events at Paisley Park, Prince's studio complex has announced a film series that begins Jan. 11 with the 1973 concert documentary "Wattstax," followed by Aretha Franklin's"Amazing Grace" on Jan. 18 and "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" the following Saturday, featuring the Fugees, Kanye West and the Roots. "Prince built Paisley Park as a hub of creativity," said Alan Seiffert, who took over as executive director in October. "There is no better way for us to launch into 2020 than to showcase the artistry, compelling performances and cultural significance of these critically acclaimed concert films." The screenings on Jan. 11 and 25 include an after-party with a DJ. All movies will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets for the series, priced at $69.99, are on sale at paisleypark.com. Let's hope some unreleased Prince concerts are included in the future — notably the priceless first Piano and a Microphone Show at Paisley on Jan. 21, 2016.