Climate Emergency

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.

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.

Trevor Boffone writes about the effects Hurricane Harvey has had on the theatre community in Houston, Texas.

Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider, who attended the AsiaTOPA Performance Festival in Australia, reflects how as the United States devalues diversity and imposes restrictions on immigration, Australia recognizes the value of its relationship with its Asian neighbors, and of its own diverse population.

Ryan Leeds interviews Ty Defoe about winning the Jonathan Larson Grant, his show Crane: On Earth, In Sky, and how his identity influences his work.

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.

Em Piro images what a Paleo theatre practice would involve.

In this second installment of her series on the Standing with Saguaros project, Kimi Eisele writes about integrating radio into her performance project.

The first of a two-part report on the tour of The Wastelands, a folk opera developed by the ensemble Children of the Wild, across the Great Lakes region of the United States.

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.