The 1989 riots to protest Boise Cascade’s decision to hire a nonunion, general contractor for the paper company’s $535 million mill expansion are an imperative part of International Falls history.

On Sept. 9 of that year, tensions escalated and hundreds of union supporters — many from other states — invaded the grounds of the man camp used to house workers of the Alabama-based BE&K Construction and burned it to the ground.

The labor incident hit the stage with last week’s premiere of “The Mill,” produced by the Workhaus Playwrites Collective. The production runs through May 5 at the Playwrites Center, 2301 East Franklin Ave., Minneapolis. All shows begin at 8 p.m. and seats are pay-what-you-can.

Playwrite Jeannine Coulombe grew up in International Falls and the story is a personal one for her, she said.

“My dad and my step dad both worked at the mill,” Coulombe said. “I’ve written a lot of plays, but this one is decidedly my most personal.”

Coulombe recalls the summer of 1989 as one full of tension. “It was palpable,” she explained.

Coulombe remembers she was home from her first year of college and working at Pamida — across the street from the man camp. By the time the actual rioting happened, Coulombe had already returned to school, but noted having family in town kept her closely connected to the Sept. 9 events.

More than a decade later, she began writing “The Mill” while in grad school, shortly after 9/11.

“The events of that horrible day shook me up as a writer,” she said of 9/11. “It was hard to know what to write about. The world just seemed suddenly different. I needed to go home in my writing.”

Coulombe said the events of 1989 were used as a “jumping point” for drama in a story. The conflict surrounding the riots couldn’t be resisted, she added.

“The situation and everything that went along with it  provided a lens for me to explore issues I wanted to explore — unions, strikes, working people, immigration, and the shredding of the American dream,” she said.

The production features a fictional family — a father who works in the Boise Cascade mill, a mother and a son. The son has just come home from college for the summer.

Coulombe said she wrote the play to have the rioting events take place in June and the tensions that grew throughout that summer are condensed into one week, she explained.

“The entire play is in the family’s back yard,” Coulombe said. “You see how it plays on the family and all of the intertwined relationships of the characters. That tension builds up to the riot and then the aftermath. (The play) is really seen through the lives of that one family.”

Coulombe said she has already received a positive response from those who have seen “The Mill” and hopes it will be a hit during its time on stage.

“I want people to see themselves or someone they recognize in the story,” Coulombe concluded. “I wrote about a place I knew, a world I knew, and although the characters are fictional, they are still people I know. I want the audience to connect with that and understand that.”

For more information on “The Mill,” or to reserve tickets, visit www.workhauscollective.org or call 1-800-838-3006.