Meet the Playwrights of

PRIME Voices: The Playwright Series

Laurie Flanigan Hegge

LAURIE is a playwright, bookwriter, lyricist, and theatre artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her play PRICK premiered at the Edinbourgh Festival and London's West End last year. Her musicals include LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS (co-writer, book & lyrics with Jacinda Duffin and composer James Kaplan), SEE JANE VOTE (book & lyrics with music by James Kaplan, HORMEL GIRLS (book & lyrics with music by Hiram Titus), TWENTY DAYS TO FIND A WIFE (book & lyrics with music by Marya Hart), SWEET LAND, THE MUSICAL (lyricist, co-writer book with Perrin Post, music by Dina Maccabee), BOXCAR (book and lyrics, music by James Valcq) and DIRTY BUSINESS (book & lyrics, music by Robert Elhai.)

Fun fact: Laurie is married to Twin Cities' actor Jon Hegge

Tira Palmquist

TIRA is based in Southern California, is known for plays that merge the personal, the political and the poetic – such as Two Degrees, which premiered at the Denver Center, PRIME produced at the Guthrie in 2018 and is available through TRW Plays. Her newest play The Body’s Midnight premiered at Boston Court Pasadena in April 2024 (a coproduction with IAMA Theater Company).

Tira’s other new plays include Memory of Winter (a play continuing her series of plays about Minnesota, and about climate change) and King Margaret, an adaptation of the Henry VI cycle was featured in the 5 Directors, 5 Plays reading series with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, July 2021.

Other plays: The Worth of Water, Safe Harbor, The Way North, Ten Mile Lake, Age of Bees, And Then They Fell and This Floating World.

Fun fact: Tira's first grandchild was born in the Twin Cities last year.