fbpx Climate Emergency | HowlRound Theatre Commons

Climate Emergency

Climate change poses an existential threat to humanity and theatremakers need to be part of addressing it. Here, you’ll find content about artistic work that engages with the climate crisis, as well as learnings about how to make theatre practices more eco-friendly. Chantal Bilodeau’s long-running Theatre in the Age of Climate Change series is a must-read, and don’t miss Groundwater Arts’s video series on the Green New Theater.

The Latest

Creating Work in Series in the Anthropocene
Essay
Creating Work in Series in the Anthropocene
by Chantal Bilodeau
22 April 2024
Agri-Culture in Climate Change
Essay
Agri-Culture in Climate Change
by Tannis Kowalchuk
23 April 2024
Blessings and Provocations from the 2024 Under the Radar Symposium
Essay
Blessings and Provocations from the 2024 Under the Radar Symposium
by Ashley Malafronte
8 April 2024
a pile of electronics in Times Square
Environmentalism Behind the Scenes on Broadway and Beyond
Essay

Environmentalism Behind the Scenes on Broadway and Beyond

28 March 2019

Alice Stevenson shares some of the most successful initiatives of the Broadway Green Alliance, an organization that leads the charge when it comes to advocating for more sustainable practices in theatre.

three actors onstage
Climate Change Theatre is LIT
Essay

Climate Change Theatre is LIT

A Study on the Performing Arts and Climate Change Engagement

27 March 2019

Carolyn Reeves looks at multiple barriers to climate change engagement and addresses how the performing arts—and especially theatre—can help overcome them.

performers onstage
Towards a Sustainable Aesthetic Theory
Essay

Towards a Sustainable Aesthetic Theory

Climate and Rasa

26 March 2019

Erin B. Mee examines how using the Sanskrit aesthetic theory of rasa—rather than the aesthetic theory of catharsis—is a necessary step when it comes to creating sustainable theatre.

College Ambassador program logo
The Creative Climate Movement
Essay

The Creative Climate Movement

25 March 2019

Lucy Latham talks about the work London-based organization Julie’s Bicycle is doing in encouraging the creative community to act on climate change and environmental sustainability.

a group of performers lifting up a young child onstage
What I Learned About Gender Parity and Racial Diversity from Running a Global Participatory Initiative
Essay

What I Learned About Gender Parity and Racial Diversity from Running a Global Participatory Initiative

24 March 2019

Chantal Bilodeau examines data from the Climate Change Theatre Action initiative, which she runs, to better understand how racial and gender bias plays out in the theatre world.

four performers in parkas performing outside
The Rise of Climate Refugees in This Sinking Island
Essay

The Rise of Climate Refugees in This Sinking Island

24 January 2019

Maximilian Kempf discusses climate change theatre through the lens of the Anthropoligists’ show This Sinking Island.

Four people standing in front of a tree
Happy New Year from HowlRound
Essay

Happy New Year from HowlRound

Reflections on 2018

31 December 2018

HowlRound Director Jamie Gahlon reflects on 2018 and looks forward to 2019.

a group of people
The Possibility of Generative Futures Through Embodied Practice
Essay

The Possibility of Generative Futures Through Embodied Practice

20 September 2018

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.

a college of multiple landscape photos
Theatre's Part in the Quest to Save Public Land
Essay

Theatre's Part in the Quest to Save Public Land

19 September 2018

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

a group of people
The Birth of a Climate Commons for Theatre and Performance
Essay

The Birth of a Climate Commons for Theatre and Performance

18 September 2018

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

a person and a puppet on stage
This Sentence
Essay

This Sentence

How Do We Comprehend the Effects of Climate Change?

17 September 2018

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

a large group of people
Art on a Damaged Planet
Essay

Art on a Damaged Planet

the Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening

16 September 2018

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

How We Produced a Green Convening
Essay

How We Produced a Green Convening

12 August 2018

Associate Producer Ramona Ostrowski and Fellow JD Stokely reflect on how HowlRound made the Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening on 8-10 June 2018 our greenest convening yet.

Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening
Video

Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening

Emerson College

Friday 8 June to Sunday 10 June 2018
Boston, MA, United States

HowlRound, in partnership with Chantal Bilodeau (The Arctic Cycle), Elizabeth Doud (Climakaze Miami/Fundarte), and Roberta Levitow (Theater Without Borders) presented the Theatre in the Age of Climate Change Convening livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Friday 8 June to Sunday 10 June 2018. Follow @howlround in Twitter, and use hashtag #theatreandclimatechange.

actors and a puppet onstage
Chantal Bilodeau on “Breaking Up with Aristotle” and Finding New Ways to Tell Stories Onstage
Podcast

Chantal Bilodeau on “Breaking Up with Aristotle” and Finding New Ways to Tell Stories Onstage

Theatre History Podcast #61

7 May 2018

Playwright Chantal Bilodeau joins us to discuss her essay "Why I'm Breaking Up with Aristotle," and how we need to explore new forms of storytelling in order to create theatre that engages with issues like climate change.

Maybe Tomorrow, The Fish Will Be Gone
Essay

Maybe Tomorrow, The Fish Will Be Gone

22 March 2018

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

Graz, Austria
Essay

Graz, Austria

City of Culture…City of Climate Change Communication

21 March 2018

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.

Queer Climate Performance Art in the Most Unlikely Places
Essay

Queer Climate Performance Art in the Most Unlikely Places

20 March 2018

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

Does Laughter Have a Place Here?
Essay

Does Laughter Have a Place Here?

19 March 2018

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

Why Do Women Climate More Than Men?
Essay

Why Do Women Climate More Than Men?

18 March 2018

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.

Theatre and Resistance
Essay

Theatre and Resistance

Ten Things You Can Do

25 January 2018

Jonathan Mandell reports on the Martin Segal Theatre Center's 2018 Theatre and Resistance Symposium, and lists ten things theatre community can do right now to make a change.

Addressing Environmental Topics in Theatre by Using Greenturgy
Essay

Addressing Environmental Topics in Theatre by Using Greenturgy

2 January 2018

Holly Derr interrogates green(drama)turgy at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and how stories can be used to reconnect people to their physical world.

Climate Change Theatre Action Still Waving
Video

Climate Change Theatre Action Still Waving

Monday 23 October / Sunday 22 October
Palmerston North, New Zealand

Massey University presented the Climate Change Theatre Action event Still Waving—a series of readings and performances—livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced howlround.tv network on Monday 23 October at 2 p.m. NZDT (Wellington, UTC +13) / Monday, October 23 at 12 p.m. AEDT (Sydney, UTC +11) / Monday, October 23 at 9 a.m. SGT (Singapore UTC +8) / Monday, October 23 at 2 a.m. BST (London, UTC+1) / Monday, October 23 at 01:00 UTC / Sunday, October 22 at 9:00 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / Sunday, October 22 at 6 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7).

Announcing the HowlRound Challenge Convenings
Essay

Announcing the HowlRound Challenge Convenings

4 October 2017

HowlRound announces the four selected convening proposals for the HowlRound Challenge, a new initiative to incubate ideas and seed action to make a better theatre and a better world.

The Breathing Hole and Inuit Cultural Dramaturgy
Essay

The Breathing Hole and Inuit Cultural Dramaturgy

22 September 2017

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