The global Climate Change Theatre Action festival successfully landed at LCC in early December, with over 100 people attending two evenings of short climate-themed plays, poetry and art.
Launched in 2015, Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) is a worldwide festival of short plays about the climate crisis presented biennially to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings. Since its founding, CCTA events have taken place in 30+ countries on all continents and reached thousands of audience members. Every other year, 50 professional playwrights from around the world are commissioned to write five-minute plays about an aspect of the climate crisis based on a prompt. These plays are then available to organizers interested in presenting an event in their community during the festival’s time window.
LCC’s event, organized by Melissa Kaplan, featured six short climate-themed plays directed by LCC Theatre alumni Anna Szabo, Doak Bloss and Nick Lemmer. Climate-themed posters and poetry by LCC students were displayed, and representatives from local environmental organizations were on hand to share information about getting involved.
The plays at LCC were performed by LCC Theatre students and included A Hummingbird Ululation by Aleya Kassam (Kenya), Magical Fungi in Times Square by Chantal Bilodeau (Canada/United States), Snails by Janet Colson (Michigan), That’s the Late Night Show by Vitor Jatobá (Brazil), The Polar Bears by Nicholas Billon (Canada), and Thunderbird by Jo MacDonald (Anishinaabe/Manitoba, Canada).
This year’s theme, All Good Things Must Begin, is taken from science fiction writer Octavia Butler’s early journals, as she sought to establish herself and dreamt of the writer she might become, just as we can combine dreams and actions to ensure the planet we want for the future.
Climate Change Theatre Action was originally conceived by Elaine Ávila, Chantal Bilodeau, Roberta Levitow, and Caridad Svich following a model pioneered by NoPassport Theatre Alliance. It has since evolved into a U.S.-Canada collaboration between the Arts and Climate Initiative and the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts.
The LCC-produced programs were free, with donations accepted for the LCC Theatre Scholarship Fund. If you have questions or would like more information, contact Melissa Kaplan at 517-483-1488 or kaplanm@star.lcc.edu.
