Climate Change Theatre Action is a worldwide festival of short plays about the climate crisis, presented biennially to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings.
The theme this year, “All Good Things Must Begin,” is inspired by the journal entry of American science fiction writer Octavia Butler. Butler was incredibly prescient, writing about extremism, racial justice, and climate change some 30 years ago. By setting intentions and visualizing a positive outcome, she defied the odds and became the author of many celebrated novels, winning each of science fiction’s highest honors. While the worlds of her novels depict the violent challenges of today’s interlocking crises, her protagonists remain devoted to thriving, to achieving survival beyond the destructive and oppressive societies they come from.
The climate crisis demands the same kind of imaginative leap: we will create a just and regenerative world only if we dare to imagine it first, and use that vision to guide us through the difficulties. We all need to be solarpunks and envision radical pluralistic futures where nature and community thrive, and where we reject the apocalypse and embrace counterculture, post-capitalism, and decolonization.
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The LAVA Center will present two programs of short plays as staged readings, on Saturday, Dec. 2, 7 pm and Saturday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m. There is a $5–20 suggested donation for the plays — no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
The December 2 program will be directed by Kiersten Samalis and will be followed by a facilitated debrief activity led by a local theater troupe to be confirmed.
The December 9 program will be directed by JuPong Lin and will be followed by a facilitated debrief discussion led by Lin.
The programs will also be available online, on demand for a short time following the live performances, details TBA.
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Climate Change Theatre Action launched in 2015, and the LAVA team has been presenting these plays, in some form, since 2017, years before The LAVA Center was born! Greening Greenfield has been a supporter of this programming since the beginning, and this year the program is also funded in part by Mass Humanities.
