Climate Emergency

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.

Ira Gamerman reports on Australian playwright David Finnigan's new play Kill Climate Deniers that has been funded through an arts grant from the Australian government and called out as a waste of government arts spending although it hasn’t premeried yet.

Jeff Chang on Detroit-based Complex Movements’ Beware of the Dandelions, a narrative, concert, visual installation, architectural piece, and convening space to distribute revolutionary ideas and activate creative ecosystems and economies of change. 

Katie Naka discusses the Go Green pop-up experience in Harlem and advocates experimenting with urban green spaces as venues.

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.

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

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.

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.

José Torres-Tama writes about his experience in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, ten years ago.

David Bruin on Mondo Bizarro and ArtSpot Productions’ Cry You One at the Arts & Ideas Festival in New Haven, Connecticut.

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.