Prairie Fire
prairie fire (2025)
Paul is creating a haunting and beautiful story about a young boy growing up in a small midwestern prairie town, who leaves for the big city. Confronted by the chaos and division of the world, he is faced with making a choice between being an agent for destruction, or a warrior against the darkness.
tickets available now!
the friday night public performance is cancelled due to weather
still seats available Saturday jan 24 at 8pm, and Sunday jan 25 at 7pm
Below is a visual diary of the making of the show.....
...a recent Press Release (11/23/2025)...
For Immediate Release
November 25, 2025
Paul Herwig, co-artistic director of Off-Leash Area Contemporary Performance Works, presents a new multi-media solo theater production, “Prairie Fire”, within a 360-degree immersive video, animation, and projection mapping environment.
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Minneapolis, MN – Paul Herwig presents Prairie Fire, a new original multi-media theater production, that is part childhood memoir, part historical fiction, and throughout a fantastical and haunting lyrical tribute to childhood. Both melancholy and hopeful, Prairie Fire follows a young boy born among the Midwest prairies, the wonder and travails of growing up, where when confronted by the chaos and division of the world, he is faced with making a choice between being an agent for destruction, or a warrior against the darkness. Prairie Fire will be performed in a “white box” raw studio space at St Paul Ballet Studios, within the Fairview Business Center, in Saint Paul, January 23-24 at 8pm, and Jan 25 at 7pm, 2026. Tickets are by suggested donation of $10-$30. Tickets available December 1st. Three performances only.
Prairie Fire has been in development on and off since the pandemic, when Paul Herwig and Jennifer Ilse, Off-Leash Area co-directors, found themselves with a newly built-out and then suddenly empty performance space in the Nokomis neighborhood. During that spring, with everything shut down, Paul set up his projection gear and began work on Prairie Fire. Now, six years later, the project has come to fruition. Prairie Fire remains at its core an allegorical and magical reflection on the journey from childhood to adulthood starting in the 1960’s and running into the present. Prairie Fire surrounds the audience in an environment of live animation and video projections, drawn from family albums, historical documentation from a small Minnesota prairie town, and that of contemporary events.
Paul Herwig is a 26-year veteran of the local alternative performing arts community, and has for 42 years worked as a professional actor, deviser/creator of original physical theater, and set and projection designer in Europe, Canada, and throughout the US. Paul relocated to Minneapolis in 1998. Paul is also a McKnight Theater Fellow, and is a recipient of a dozen individual artist awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and the Jerome Foundation.
Paul has for the past six years been providing live animated projection art for events (MIA Art in Bloom, Museum of Russian Art galas, etc), public art projects (Mill City Museum, MN State Fair), and performing arts productions (James Sewell Ballet, Black Label Movement dance company, etc), under the name Future Projections (https://www.futureprojections.net/).
DATES – TIMES – TICKETS
Dates: January 23-24 at 8pm, January 25 at 7pm
Venue: St Paul Ballet Studios, 655 Fairview Ave N, St Paul, MN 55104
(in the Fairview Business Center)
Tickets: Suggested donation $10-50 per person
Tickets are on sale December 10 - check back for the link
November 25, 2025
Paul Herwig, co-artistic director of Off-Leash Area Contemporary Performance Works, presents a new multi-media solo theater production, “Prairie Fire”, within a 360-degree immersive video, animation, and projection mapping environment.
****
Minneapolis, MN – Paul Herwig presents Prairie Fire, a new original multi-media theater production, that is part childhood memoir, part historical fiction, and throughout a fantastical and haunting lyrical tribute to childhood. Both melancholy and hopeful, Prairie Fire follows a young boy born among the Midwest prairies, the wonder and travails of growing up, where when confronted by the chaos and division of the world, he is faced with making a choice between being an agent for destruction, or a warrior against the darkness. Prairie Fire will be performed in a “white box” raw studio space at St Paul Ballet Studios, within the Fairview Business Center, in Saint Paul, January 23-24 at 8pm, and Jan 25 at 7pm, 2026. Tickets are by suggested donation of $10-$30. Tickets available December 1st. Three performances only.
Prairie Fire has been in development on and off since the pandemic, when Paul Herwig and Jennifer Ilse, Off-Leash Area co-directors, found themselves with a newly built-out and then suddenly empty performance space in the Nokomis neighborhood. During that spring, with everything shut down, Paul set up his projection gear and began work on Prairie Fire. Now, six years later, the project has come to fruition. Prairie Fire remains at its core an allegorical and magical reflection on the journey from childhood to adulthood starting in the 1960’s and running into the present. Prairie Fire surrounds the audience in an environment of live animation and video projections, drawn from family albums, historical documentation from a small Minnesota prairie town, and that of contemporary events.
Paul Herwig is a 26-year veteran of the local alternative performing arts community, and has for 42 years worked as a professional actor, deviser/creator of original physical theater, and set and projection designer in Europe, Canada, and throughout the US. Paul relocated to Minneapolis in 1998. Paul is also a McKnight Theater Fellow, and is a recipient of a dozen individual artist awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and the Jerome Foundation.
Paul has for the past six years been providing live animated projection art for events (MIA Art in Bloom, Museum of Russian Art galas, etc), public art projects (Mill City Museum, MN State Fair), and performing arts productions (James Sewell Ballet, Black Label Movement dance company, etc), under the name Future Projections (https://www.futureprojections.net/).
DATES – TIMES – TICKETS
Dates: January 23-24 at 8pm, January 25 at 7pm
Venue: St Paul Ballet Studios, 655 Fairview Ave N, St Paul, MN 55104
(in the Fairview Business Center)
Tickets: Suggested donation $10-50 per person
Tickets are on sale December 10 - check back for the link
...some screenshots of video in progress for the first few scenes (11/23/2025)...
...setting up in the space (11/20/2025)...
...preparing panels for green-screen video shooting (10/12/2025)...
...an early draft of the technical layout of the space (10/28/2025)...
...photos of the performance space before anything gets loaded in (10/4/2025)...
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...preparing a small stage for rehearsals and video creation in the garage (10/1/2025)...
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