Massey writer’s climate change play goes global

Massey writer’s climate change play goes global

A short play highlighting a Pacific perspective on climate change is being staged at theatres in the United States as part of a global theatre movement leading up to a major conference in Paris later this month.

The play by Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley, a theatre lecturer in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey University’s Wellington campus, is called Flotsam and focuses on the threat of rising sea levels on vulnerable Pacific nations. It premiered at the only New Zealand event in the global Climate Change Theatre Action project earlier this month at Massey’s Wellington campus.

Since then, Flotsam has been selected for presentation in at least eight theatre venues in New York, Washington, Chicago and Virginia.

The play is based on the real-life case of a man from Kiribati who was declined status as a climate change refugee in New Zealand. It is about a woman whose job it is to assess climate change refugee applications. Her daughter, who is following the issue on Facebook, is less than impressed by her mother’s decisions. They argue over the definition of a refugee in the era of climate change while the woman remains oblivious to the closer threat of rising sea levels to her glamorous beachfront home.

Dr Tilley says she is “excited and honoured” her work was selected as one of 50 official climate change theatre action plays curated by the New York-based organisers, Climate Change Theatre Action. It is a partnership between three international creative activism non-governmental organisations: Theatre Without Borders, The Arctic Cycle and No Passport. Together, they are a registered part of Artcop21, the official worldwide cultural programme of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris later in November.

She says each of the 108 [theatre action] events worldwide has total freedom as to which of the 50 plays they present from an online repository – of which Dr Tilley’s is one. A link to the repository is given to all participating directors.

“I feel very honoured to have Flotsam picked up by the Institute for Excellence in American Contemporary Theater, and directed by Matthew Clinton Sekellick, who is an award-winning New York-based experimental theatre director.”

Her play is just five minutes long in keeping with the project’s brief. “The idea is that around the world each venue presents a snapshot of different ways of thinking about climate change through a selection of short plays,” Dr Tilley says.

Flotsam is scheduled for presentation at the following venues:

• Institute for Excellence in American Contemporary Theater in New York, on December 1 (Directed by Matthew Clinton Sekellick who is an award-winning New York-based experimental theatre director.)

• Ashland, Virginia, by the Randolph-Macon College Acting and Directing students in the Theatre Arts Program, on November 20

• University of New Hampshire in collaboration with the Union of Concerned Scientists on November 19

• Jackalope Theatre Company, Chicago, on December 13

• C.W. Baker High School, Baldwinsville, New York, on Mon, Nov 30

• The Den Theatre, Chicago, on December 8

• Part of Climate Change Theatre Action readings at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, Pennsylvania, on November 16

• Part of Western Washington University's Advanced Playwriting Classes, on November 17th and November 24th.

The Massey University November 1 Waves event, which showcased a series of short plays and readings about climate change, also included the world premiere of a new short play, Mōrehu and Tītī, by award-winning Vancouver-based Māori playwright David Geary.

Dr Tilley, who produced and directed Waves, says it offered audiences some creative perspectives and solutions for what is often defined as the most pressing issue facing humanity.

“Students at Massey are learning about creative activism through our innovative papers such as Creativity in the Community. I think it’s important to model what we teach, so I jumped at the chance to write and direct for Climate Change Theatre Action,” she says.

ENDS

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