Ominous Entertainment: Students Present Climate Change Theater

The plays were funny and profound, enlightening and thought-provoking. Most of all, they were ominous.

 

Groton’s Theater Department, on December 11, participated in Climate Change Theatre Action, an international showcase of short plays timed to coincide with a United Nations climate change conference.

 

“We as artists have the opportunity to explore issues that are important to our society in a way that is also entertaining and might have you hear information in a new way,” said Theater Program Director Laurie Sales, who learned about Climate Change Theatre Action when she attended a conference on theater and social justice.

 

The organization solicited plays of ten minutes or less from playwrights all over the world and chose fifty. Groton’s student directors read the fifty plays and each chose one, then proceeded to cast and direct it. Their actors included students, including some who had never stepped on stage before, and two faculty members.

 

Zoe Park ’21 directed Steamy Session in a Singapore Spa by Damon Chua, an intense, dark glimpse at a human—more like a human lab rat—who succumbs to rising temperatures. Yeabsira Gugssa '22 was the scientist observing a withering John Capen, a Groton English teacher. “I wanted it to be stressful throughout the play. The horror slowly creeps in on you,” said Zoe, her observation equally applicable to the climate crisis.

 

Sammy Agrawal ’21 directed The Donation by Jordan Hall, featuring Nicole Lee Heberling ’21 and Anuj Agarwal ’21. The Donation assesses the value of life and examines the motives of a young man who wants to sacrifice his life to save the environment. Angela Wei ’21 directed Six Polar Bears Fell Out of the Sky This Morning by Alister Emerson, a climate warning involving politics, media, and deception, featuring Mikayla Murrin ’21, Alex Brown ’21, Edwina Polynice ’21, and Janice Zhai ’21.

 

Eliza Powers ’20 directed A Dog Loves Mango by Georgina Escobar, featuring Caroline Wilcox ’20, Lilly Gordon '21, and English teacher Ellen Rennard. It comically introduces a woman stopped by airport TSA officers after security dogs are attracted to her shoes, which are made of mango leather. 

 

After the performances, audience members discussed the plays and asked the directors questions. “Each play has an interesting power dynamic at play,” Ms. Sales observed, referring to the characters. The ultimate power in all four plays, however, lies with the warming planet and its increasingly dramatic impact on every character—and on all of us.