Arts & Climate Initiative

The Future Within Us kicks off Climate Change Theatre Action 2023 and is officially part of Climate Week NYC, an annual climate event that brings together business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers, and civil society representatives of all ages and backgrounds to drive the transition, speed up progress, and champion change that is already happening.

Event Program

Actors Ready by Ethan King
Performed by Monica Sanborn

Magical Fungi in Times Square by Chantal Bilodeau
Performed by Annie Fang, Sasha VanGuard, and Ema Zivkovic

Mash-up of Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, Danielle Brisebois, and Wayne Rodrigues and Walking on Sunshine by Kimberley Rew
Arranged by Xander Browne, performed by Sasha VanGuard

The Polar Bears by Nicolas Billon
Performed by Annie Fang and Scott Redmond

Magic Trick
Performed by London Carlisle

Ten Ways to Save Mother Earth – In Under Two Minutes! by Chantal Bilodeau
Performed by Annie Fang and Scott Redmond

Magic Trick
Performed by London Carlisle

The Oysters by Miranda Rose Hall
Performed by Annie Fang, Scott Redmond, Monica Sanborn, and Ema Zivkovic

Transmission by Kevin Matthew Wong
Performed by London Carlisle

Go to Love, words and music by Libby Roderick**
Arranged by Xander Browne, performed by the ensemble

**© Libby Roderick Music 1991 Used by permission All rights reserved.
From the recording "Winter Wheat"
Turtle Island Records, Anchorage, Alaska
www.libbyroderick.com | libbyroderick@gmail.com

Cast Bios

Creative Team Bios

Nicolas Billon (playwright) writes for theatre, television, and film. His work has been produced around the world and garnered many awards, including a Governor-General’s Award for Drama, a Canadian Screen Award, and a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award.

Miranda Rose Hall’s (playwright) works include Plot Points in Our Sexual Development (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater, finalist for the 2019 Lambda Literary Award in Drama), The Hour of Great Mercy (Diversionary Theater, 2019 San Diego Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play), A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction (Baltimore Center Stage), and The Kind Ones (Magic Theatre). She is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Yale School of Drama.

Ethan King (playwright) is a young performance-maker, machinator, and dramaturg from the Philippines. His latest performance credits include: Dario Fo’s The Pope And The Witch and Caryll Churchill's Mad Forest. He has also just finished his own research project entitled The BlackBox Ritual. He is interested in creating space and time compositions grounded in larger societal contexts.

Kevin Matthew Wong (playwright) is a Hakka-Chinese Canadian theatre creator, performer, dramaturg, facilitator, producer and environmentalist. He is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of Broadleaf Creative, a company that works to merge social justice considerations and theatre. Hi is currently Senior Producer and Artistic Associate at Why Not Theatre, leading a diverse portfolio of projects.

Britt Berke (director). Recent projects include Betty Smith’s Becomes a Woman (Mint Theater Company, Outer Critics Circle Best New Off-Broadway Play nomination); DOGS (Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep); watchme (NYTW Residency); Anne Carson’s Antigonick (Torn Out Theater); Promenade in concert (The Public Theatre); and Round Room (Origin Theater’s 1st Irish Festival, Best Director nom). Britt is an alumna of the Roundabout Directors Group, Mercury Store Directing Intensive, and MTC Directing Fellowship. BA, Barnard College. SDC Associate Member.

Xander Browne (composer & music director) is a queer Black comedic writer/composer based in Brooklyn. His musical W a t c h M e, a gay ASMR fantasia, has been workshopped with New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Director’s Group, and was a finalist for Normal Ave’s NAPseries. His musical The Last Vampyre, a lesbian vampire climate farce set in Winnipeg, Canada, was a finalist for Live & In Color’s Bingham Camp Retreat. Xander love, love, loves this incredible team.

Phương Nguyễn (loosely pronounced fu-ONG win) (costume designer) has backgrounds in East Asian studies and Vietnamese history. Recent theatre credits include The Good John Proctor (Bedlam); Once Upon a Korean Time (Ma-Yi); Mr. Oatmeal (Fresh Fruit Festival); Queen (NAATCO & Long Wharf Theatre). They hold an MFA in Costume Design from Yale School of Drama.

Zoe Collins (event stage manager). Broadway: Death of a Salesman. Lincoln Center Theater: Flying Over Sunset, Intimate Apparel, The Skin of Our Teeth, Your Own Personal Exegesis. Paper Mill Playhouse: Hercules. Off-Broadway: Three Houses, The Comeuppance, Snow in Midsummer. The Juilliard School: Cymbeline.

Chantal Bilodeau (artistic director) is a Montreal-born, New York-based playwright whose work focuses on the intersection of storytelling and the climate crisis. She is writing a series of plays that look at the social and environmental changes taking place in the eight Arctic states that include Sila, Forward, and No More Harveys. In 2019, she was named one of “8 Trailblazers Who Are Changing the Climate Conversation” by Audubon Magazine.

Julia Levine (artistic producer) is a theatre maker and social worker. Her original ten-minute play, Our Food At Work, is published as part of Some Scripts Literary Magazine’s inaugural issue. She recently completed her Master’s of Social Work at Hunter College, and seeks to combine her new social work practice with her directing background to address mental health implications of the climate crisis.

Arts & Climate Initiative

Founded in 2008, the Arts & Climate Initiative uses storytelling and live performance to foster dialogue about our global climate crisis, create an empowering vision of the future, and inspire people to take action. Operating on the principle that complex problems must be addressed through collaborative efforts, we work with artists across disciplines and geographic borders, solicit input from researchers in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, and actively seek community and educational partners.

Climate Change Theatre Action

Now in its fifth season, Climate Change Theatre Action is a global distributed festival of short plays about the climate crisis organized by the Arts & Climate Initiative in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts. CCTA 2023 takes place September 17-December 23, 2023. Visit our website for the listing of events and/or to organize your own.

Hudson Valley Event

If you feel like heading north, SOON IS NOW is presenting an afternoon of climate and eco art, live performance, and activism as part of CCTA 2023 on Saturday, September 23, from 2:00 pm-5:30 pm in Scenic Hudson's Long Dock Park, in Beacon, NY. More info on their Facebook page.

Thank You

We would like to acknowledge artist Adriene Jenik, who created the beautiful ECOtarot cards.

Thank you to Caveat for hosting us and to A.R.T./NY for providing discounted rehearsal space.

The Future Within Us is made possible with funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council, and administered by LMCC, as well as by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature .

We gratefully acknowledge the State of New York and The Puffin Foundation for their support of this project.

Support Us

If you like what you saw, consider supporting us with a tax-deductible donation. It is thanks to people like you that we can continue to do our work.

Climate Resources

Below are resources based on the ECOTarot card you picked. (If you attended the event virtually, choose a card that defines you best.) We hope these resources will inspire you to deepen your engagement with the climate crisis in a way that is meaningful and draws on your unique talents and skills.

THE ARTIST

Your willingness to experiment and learn makes you unique. You thrive when you apply your creativity to finding new solutions. We desperately need you.

THE ENGINEER

You are magicians. The modern world wouldn’t exist without you. You know how to make ambitious plans and bring them to fruition. Thank you.

THE HEALER

You are in tune with the cycles of nature and have a great well of inner wisdom. We look to you for your ability to balance man-made energy and the energy of the universe.

THE GARDENER

Thank you for being nurturing and for your ability to give and receive love. Your connection to the environment is an inspiration to us all.

THE WORLD LEADER

Boy, do you have your job cut out for you! We trust you’ll keep those other world leaders accountable. And we know moving mountains comes at great personal cost so we offer our deepest gratitude.

THE TEACHER

Whether you teach in a classroom, impart Indigenous traditional knowledge, or uphold long-held traditions, it is thanks to you that we are learning to consider the long-term impacts of our actions.

THE LOVERS

You are good collaborators and coalition builders, and you know how to look for mutually beneficial solutions. We know it’s hard to be so vulnerable. We appreciate you.

THE BICYCLE

You’re all about change and movement, self-disciplined, and mindful of your footprint on the world. Your focus on community and the future makes you a role model.

JUSTICE

There can be no progress on climate unless we put justice front and center. Thank you for your ethics and your commitment to racial and cultural equity.

THE LONE WOLF

We have a lot to learn from you about being mindful, taking time to reflect, and listening to the voices of our ancestors.

THE LIFE CYCLE

You are our big picture thinkers. You have a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all lives and the many consequences of our actions.

STRENGTH

We admire your resilience and your ability to grow through and despite challenges. You thrive when involved with grassroots movements. You are even stronger than you think.

THE GENETICIST

You are our researchers, our alchemists, our masters of experimentation. You’re also brilliant at seeing possibilities and creating new life. We need your stabilizing force.

THE STARS

We look to you for your optimism and boundlessness, for your vast perspective and your ability to realize dreams. You remind us that we are all stardust.

THE MOON

You are softness personified. All dreams and intuition. You embody feminine energy and power, and you will soon reveal yourself in your full glory.

THE SUN

You are happy and accomplished, and you remind us of the power of simplicity. After all, all life is connected to the sun.

TRANSCENDANCE

You are our metaphysicians. Your knowledge of worlds beyond this one is invaluable. You see cracks through our current systems where better systems can grow. You teach us to remain grounded and open to possibilities.

THE MULTIVERSE

You have a limitless imagination and a deep understanding of worlds within worlds. You know everything has its rightful place. Being around you is like getting a taste of infinity.

ACE OF WATER

You have a strong emotional connection to water and are passionate about water conservation. You possess amazing potential. Thank you for your advocacy – it is needed now more than ever.

ACE OF EARTH

You are the keepers of the land, teaching us how to care for it and the species that inhabit it. We share in your heartbreak but know that you possess infinite internal resources.

ACE OF AIR

You are science and logic. You represent the bridge between Indigenous traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge. You help us understand the world not just through data but through careful observation and experience.

ACE OF FIRE

You embody the opportunity to rethink our priorities and values. You’re not afraid to ask how we should live and to advocate for firmly stepping into the next evolutionary transition.