Theater Group Encourages Action to Prevent Climate Change
At River’s Edge Theatre Company’s upcoming event, “helpful resources about sustainable living will be shared with the audience with the hope that they take action in their own home,” according to the group’s Artistic Director, Meghan Covington.
The Green Plays Project is a one-day outdoor theater event that focuses on climate change and positive steps families can take to fight global warming. The series of five one-act plays will be presented in a family-friendly presentation at Tarrytown’s Pierson Park on September 25.
Before the presentation, Covington will teach pre-show theatre workshops for anyone aged six and up. She says that the activity is perfect for social emotional learning, explaining that it “requires students to collaborate and connect on the issue of climate change.” Basic acting, playwriting, improvisation and storytelling techniques will be explored through creative play.
Covington says that the River’s Edge “hope[s] to spark the conversation in each family’s household, so that different generations may begin to work together to accept the threat of climate change.”
The featured plays – Homosapiens by Chantal Bilodeau, The Penguin by Nicolas Billion, The Green New Steal by Corey Payette, Lifeday by Jessica Huang and A Window by Whiti Hereaka – are provided by Climate Change Theatre Action. This global participatory project “uses theatre to bring communities together and encourage them to take local and global action on climate.”
The plays will be directed by Jessica Irons, Artistic Director of Theater O in Ossining, and will be performed by Sweta Keswani, Don Creedon and Julia Schoenberg. A post-show community discussion with the cast and creative team will follow.
According to Covington, the subject of climate change “often leaves people feeling powerless and frozen.”
“We decided to explore this topic through performance and conversation, hoping to empower our audience to take action.”
A version of this article first appeared in the September issue of ArtsNews, ArtsWestchester’s monthly publication. ArtsNews is distributed throughout Westchester County. A digital copy is also available at artsw.org/artsnews.
About ArtsWestchester
Founded in 1965, ArtsWestchester is New York State’s largest private not-for-profit arts council. The leading funder and advocate for the arts in Westchester and Rockland Counties, ArtsWestchester works to create an equitable, inclusive, vibrant and sustainable community in which the arts are integral to and integrated into every facet of life. Building on its 60-year legacy, ArtsWestchester advances arts and culture by providing grants, bringing artists into schools and community centers, advocating for the arts, and building audiences through diverse marketing initiatives. ArtsWestchester enriches the lives of everyone in the community and operates a multi-use gallery and home for the arts at 31 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains, New York.
