Theatre in the Age of Climate Change

Annalisa Dias discusses her work with the newly formed Groundwater Arts Collective, and suggests ways that other theatremakers committed to climate justice can adopt the framework of a Just Transition.

Ashley Teague discusses how Notch Theatre Company is using community-led theatre and storytelling to help fight to protect public land. 

Lani Fu introduces the Climate Commons, an initiative that emerged from the Theatre in the Age of Climate Change convening in June 2018. 

Kendra Fanconi explains why it might take us eighty-eight minutes to digest one simple sentence about climate change.

Playwright MJ Halberstadt reports on Theatre of the Age of Climate Change convening, which took place 8-10 June 2018 in Boston, MA. 

Alison Weller reflects on the process of writing Boundless, a play about a fishing community on Cape Cod that faces climate change every day.

American Studies scholar and educator Nassim Winnie Balestrini reports on how Climate Change Theatre Action relates to her seminar on cultural studies at the University of Graz in Austria.

Peterson Toscano describes his solo show Everything is Connected, which tackles religion, LGBTQ issues, privilege, and climate change.

Aysan Celik talks about the ways she’s found laughter to be a catalyst for honest conversations with her students about Climate Change.

Chantal Bilodeau kicks off this week’s series on Theatre in the Age of Climate Change by suggesting that women in the arts may be our planet’s best bet for survival.

Canadian playwright Colleen Murphy writes about the importance of including Indigenous characters in plays and Indigenous artists in the process of making them.

While researching and developing his musical The Rising Sea, playwright Eric Schorr reflects on the parallels between the historical narrative of slavery and the modern narrative of climate change.

In the third installment of this series, Australian playwright David Finnigan discusses how he navigated the attacks of climate deniers on his provocatively titled play. 

Maine artist Jennie Hahn explores environmental stewardship in Maine’s Penobscot River Watershed with the performance project IN KINSHIP and shares her three guiding principles for making art in a time of climate change.

In the second installment of this series, Lanxing Fu discusses The Living Stage NYC, an intergenerational collaboration between Superhero Clubhouse and the community of Meltzer Towers.

Chantal Bilodeau kicks off this week's series on Theatre in the Age of Climate Change, and argues that we as a theatre community need to recognize when our practices and systems are detrimental to the earth and other people, and strive to change them.

Playwright Tira Palmquist and dramaturg Heather Helinsky discuss Two Degrees, a play about climate change and communication.

Una Chaudhuri announces a new project called CLIMATE LENS.

Professor of Theatre Kenn Watt discusses environmental participatory performance.

Chantal Bilodeau writes about an initiative called Climate Change Theatre Action.

In this second installment, opera director Miranda Lakerveld discusses opera Requiem for a River, which is about the Euphrates River and fuses sacred texts and traditional music from various countries in the Middle East.

In this first installment, Playwright Katie Pearl explores the implications of climate change, storytelling, and intersectionality in the theatre community in relation to Donald Trump’s administration.

Scenic Designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz shares her process for designing Henry Murray’s Treefall, which inspired her to work on HeatWave, a project connecting environmentalists and theatre artists.

Director Julia Levine discusses how she approaches her process, and examines the relationship between food and theatre. 

As part of the Theatre in the Age of Climate Change, playwright and educator Elspeth Tilley discusses the benefits of bringing collaborative creative activism into the classroom.

Undergraduate actor Sterling Oliver writes about how performing Forward led him to rediscover a passion for working to prevent climate change.

Director Emily Mendelsohn shares her experience at the 2016 Theatre Without Borders Conference, and muses on an “ecological way of seeing” for her work.

Playwright Jaisey Bates urges us to include Native communities and artists in the work to combat climate change and in the work we put on stage.

Playwright Paula Cizmar discusses the process of making her eco-play The Chisera (AKA Lost Borders)

Sara Katzoff writes about Kickwheel Ensemble Theater’s creation of Passage, a physical theatre comedy. 

Chantal Bilodeau on writing ourselves out of the pyramid and why she is breaking up with Aristotle.

Playwright Elaine Ávila shares her process and inspiration for writing her play Kitimat, which is based on a true story about the Kitimat community. 

Director and educator Theresa May writes about the potential of theatre about climate change to affect hearts and minds.

Playwright Abhishek Majumdar describes the creation of his play Dweepa, inspired by eco-philosophy.

Nelson Gray discusses the inspiration for his opera Here Oceans Roar and advocates more art centered on climate change.

Eco-theatre scholar and pioneer Una Chaudhuri considers how theatre is inventing new strategies for performance offered or necessitated by climate change.

Kendra Fanconi addresses climate change in her work not as an abstract concept, but as a real and immediate concern that is deeply rooted in a sense of place: the forests of British Columbia.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Alison Carey writes about the upcoming Green Room, an online space for theatre artists to come together around climate change action.

Librettist Ian Burton discusses his process and inspiration for creating the text for Giorgio Battistelli’s opera CO2.

Ian Garrett, Director of the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, asks will we be party to the Sustainable Theatre Practice Treaty?

Caridad Svich on writing about the inescapable reality of climate change.

Playwright Sharmon Hilfinger discusses how she developed Artic Requiem: The Story of Kivalina with composer Joan McMillen.

New Orleans-based artist Nick Slie writes about creating Cry You One, an interdisciplinary, site-responsive project addressing the ongoing effects of climate change on the Gulf Coast.

Chantal Bilodeau kicks off our second Theatre in the Age of Climate Change series by writing about her work on the international Climate Change Theatre Action initiative.

Jennifer Sokolove talks about funding work around climate change, and how organizations can reimagine granting to support work at the intersection of art activism.

Norwegian composer Marte Røyeng has created a musical exploring sustainability with children, hoping to help them think about big issues.

Elizabeth Doud addresses the emergency of climate change and the need for a poetics to shift consciousness.

Jeremy Pickard of Superhero Clubhouse searches for hope and asks impossible questions as he creates nine Planet Plays, which examine the world in the context of climate change.

Australian scenic designer Tanja Beer explores designing with the intentions of enriching audiences as well as our environment and communities.

Sarah Cameron Sunde explores the issue of water rising on our planet, explores the drastic changes through art, and implores people to consider the water.

Alanna Mitchell talks about transforming her book Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis into a one-woman show, and the conversation she found in theatre.

This hour-long conversation will take place on Thursday, April 23 on hashtag #howlround at 11am PDT (Vancouver) / 1pm CDT (Austin) / 2pm EDT (Toronto) / 18:00 GMT / 7pm BST (London).

Chantal Bilodeau kicks off the series Theatre in the Age of Climate Change with an account of her trip to the Canadian Arctic and how that changed how she wanted to write plays.