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Please send questions to theraggedyannrevivaleffort@gmail.com; this is the most likely way to get a quick response! Professional inquiries made through social media DMs will be asked to transfer to email.
Press Inquiries
Archive
We would love to provide material for those interested in covering the musical or the Raggedy Ann franchise in general! We are happy to provide resources, photos, articles, audio, and video of the musical upon request to assist creators in telling the story of this show. Please let us know if you would like our input on any Raggedy Ann-related research projects.
Footage of our performances, speeches, and interviews of the original cast posted to the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort YouTube channel is available on request. We may also be able to provide the original unedited versions of these videos.
(PDF) Download the 2025 Workshop Press Release
Photos of the workshop were taken by Sarah Comer. Contact for commercial use.
Interviews
The RARE Artistic Co-Directors are always open to interviews, whether written or recorded. We are also able to facilitate connections with the Raggedy Ann or Rag Dolly casts with whom we have worked. If you are interested in speaking with us, original 1984–86 Raggedy Ann cast members, or revival cast members, please reach out with the details of your project!
Rag Dolly Music Requests
We may be able to provide sheet music for personal use and free performances. Please send us an email with your request, including the song(s) and the name of the event or performance.
Rag Dolly Licensing Requests
We are currently looking for companies to produce workshops with! RARE Theatricals is especially interested in collaborating with school and youth theaters interested in performing staged readings or concerts of Rag Dolly. We are seeking companies that are ready to play and experiment, to take the material in different directions, and perhaps even surprise us a little!
The revised Rag Dolly script is available in its workshop form and includes the libretto and incidental music scored for vocals with piano accompaniment. Workshops must be free to attend.
In return, we ask that documentation of the workshop performance be provided to RARE Theatricals. This includes the names of the cast and crew, dates and times, location, and audience estimates for us to record. Additionally, either photos, videos, or director's notes must be provided privately for our directing and writing team to reference in the revival process.
For producers or production companies interested in a full-scale staging, we would love to discuss the future of Rag Dolly. Please send us an email, and we can talk about our projected plans to graduate from workshops.
Script & Character Info
In Rag Dolly, a little girl named Marcella is dying of a mysterious illness. Her father makes her a rag doll to comfort her, and his stories of the doll come to life in her dreams to guide her through her grief and fear. Marcella and her new friends confront wolves, witches, and incompetent doctors on their way to outwit death and mend her broken heart.
Time: Early 1930s, during the Great Depression
Place: A tipsy shack within a Hooverville, along the Hudson River in New York. Several locations within Marcella’s dream.
Rag Dolly is written for a cast of 11 named characters and a minimum ensemble of 6, which can be expanded as needed. The story is women-led with an even representation of feminine and masculine roles. All characters can be played by any gender, so long as the actor is comfortable performing the character as written, including its pronouns and gender presentation. Vocal ranges are loose estimates. Rag Dolly is still in its workshop stages, and the keys of songs are subject to change and available to be modified.
Cast:
Female presenting: 8+
Male presenting: 8+
Either: 1
In order of appearance:
Ragettes (female presenting)/Clouds/Batettes/Nurses - (3+)
Female presenting, she/her • Any age • Alto - Soprano
- Ragettes (3+)
- A charming and scrappy group; our storytellers.
- Clouds (3+)
- Ethereal, wish-granting clouds which welcome Marcella into the sky.
- Batettes (Lily, Morticia, & Elvira) (3)
- Bat’s backup dancers. Sultry, confident, and intimidating.
- Nurses (3+)
- Suspiciously showgirl-esque. Fun, energetic, and definitely not real nurses.
Ragettes (male presenting)/Doctors/Fire Fins - (3+)
Male presenting, he/him • Any age • Bass - Tenor
- Ragettes (3+)
- A charming and scrappy group; our storytellers.
- Doctors Spine, Lungs, & Tonsils (3)
- Bumbling, money-hungry, and laughably incompetent doctors who haunt both Marcella and Poppa, in and out of the dream.
- Fire Fins (1)
- Marcella’s goldfish, eaten by General D., come back to life as a giant fish to expedite Marcella’s untimely demise.
Poppa/Comet/Doll Doctor
Male presenting, he/him • 30 to late 40s • Bass/Low tenor
- Poppa/Doll Doctor
- Marcella’s caring, whimsical, and apprehensive father. He is a tailor. He does all that he can to support Marcella, but his best only goes so far. He relies on alcohol to endure through the Depression and his daughter’s illness. He doesn’t think that Marcella notices.
- Comet
- Poppa, but warmer, happier, and braver. Part of Marcella’s idea of a perfect family.
Mommy/Shooting Star/Witch
Female presenting, she/her • 30 - late 40s • Alto/Mezzo
- Mommy/Witch
- Marcella’s estranged mother. A performer, or perhaps that was only a dream. Desperate to achieve more for herself, a victim of her own ambitions. Wistful yet misty. Regretful and erratic. Never sure whether to act cold or warm. Marcella’s idea of her does not match the woman she encounters in the woods.
- Shooting Star
- Mommy, but loving, lively, and tender. Part of Marcella’s idea of a perfect family.
Marcella
Female presenting, she/her • 9 - 15 • Mezzo
- A young girl who is dying of a mysterious and worsening illness. Playful and imaginative (though she hates to admit it), stubborn, unnecessarily remorseful, and charmingly sarcastic. She tends to see the darkness in the world before she sees the light.
Raggedy Ann
Female presenting, she/her • Young adult • Soprano
- A charming, bubbly, optimistic, and quietly doubtful ragdoll, made by Poppa. Pure of heart and the embodiment of true love. A natural leader who is relentlessly hopeful until she isn’t. Marcella’s best friend.
Andy
Male presenting, he/him • Young adult • High bass/Low tenor
- Raggedy Ann’s little brother. Goofily crude, rude, stubborn, and crabby, but he finds a way to make himself loveable despite it all. He truly does care about his friends, but he’ll never say so. He’s far too immature to let himself be sappy or sentimental.
Baby
Female presenting, she/her • Young adult • Alto/Mezzo
- A small composition doll who adores all things frilly and over-the-top. A bit vain, unashamedly blunt, and extraordinarily witty. Vastly independent and confident. Unapologetically herself, regardless of the circumstances.
Teddy
Presentation and pronouns decided by performer* • Young adult • Tenor/Alto
- A chubby patchwork teddy bear. Fiercely dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, with a one-track mind that communicates with the world through literary references. Seeking confidence in their own identity, they lean on the words and ideas of their role models.
*Teddy’s role is completely gender ambiguous, and any presentation of gender may be used. While “they/them” is used exclusively in the script, this may be swapped out with any pronouns.
General D.
Male presenting, he/him • Mid 50s + • Non-singing
- An imposing military figure climbed out of the grave, conjured by Marcella’s fear. Physically and mentally decaying, but with an iron grip on his position in command. Irritable, forceful, and ravenous, in one moment barking orders and the next chillingly calm. Patriarchal and parental in the worst ways.
Bat/Yellow Yum Yum
Female presenting, she/her • Young adult • Soprano belter
- Yellow Yum Yum
- The Bat, while she was still alive, imagined as if she were in heaven. Elegant, graceful, and noticeably happy. Part of Marcella’s idea of a perfect family.
- Bat
- The spirit of Marcella’s pet canary reincarnated as General D.’s sultry vespertilian henchwoman. Cold, merciless, confident, and steadfastly loyal to her General in spite of her avian instincts. Equipped with an eerie soprano as beautiful in death as it was in life. She won’t hesitate to use seduction as a ploy to get what she wants.
Wolf/Red Fang
Male presenting, he/him • Young adult • Bass/Low tenor
- Red Fang
- The Wolf, while he was still alive, imagined as if he were guiltless and in heaven. Friendly, docile, and noticeably happy. Part of Marcella’s idea of a perfect family.
- Wolf
- Marcella’s beloved puppy reborn as the vicious, snapping hellhound of General D. Attached to the General’s hip, or rather, chain, he is always at his master’s beck and call, determined to please by any means necessary. While outwardly imposing and aloof, a deep and vulnerable fear gnaws at his insides.
The Camel with the Wrinkled Knees
Male presenting, he/him • Early 50s + • Low tenor
- A ragged camel doll with incurable wrinkled knees, tossed away without a second thought. Eternally dejected, deeming himself unworthy of love and affection. Gentle and introspective, with great passion for song and others. He longs for a family to call his own, and so he clings onto the closest resemblance of a family that he can find.