LIGHTING THE WAY: AN ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT PLAYS ABOUT THE CLIMATE CRISIS Now Available
These short plays inspired over 25,000 people at more than 200 performances globally in the fall of 2019.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Dec. 28, 2020
Lighting the Way: An Anthology of Short Plays About the Climate Crisis is now available in paperback and ebook from Lulu and Amazon. Edited by Chantal Bilodeau and Thomas Peterson, this anthology includes 49 inspiring plays by writers from across the world. Originally commissioned for Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) 2019, a biennial worldwide theater festival, the plays take a creative look at climate heroes who are lighting the way toward a just and sustainable future. These short plays inspired over 25,000 people at more than 200 performances globally in the fall of 2019.
Lighting the Way is published by the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and The Arctic Cycle. It is a great addition to university libraries, and to the collections of theatre makers and climate activists alike.
"The 49 short plays making up our 2019 collection were written in a range of forms and on a range of issues: global and local, massive and minute, practical and existential," Peterson writes in his essay, "CCTA 2019 by the Numbers: This Is How We Respond to the Burning World."
Included in the anthology are plays by Hassan Abdulrazzak, Elaine Ávila, Chantal Bilodeau, Yolanda Bonnell, Philip Braithwaite, Damon Chuaa, Paula Cizmar, Hanna Cormick, Derek Davidson, Sunny Drake, Clare Duffy, Brian Dykstra, Alister Emerson, Georgina Escobar, David Finnigan, David Geary, Nelson Gray, Jordan Hall, Kamil Haque, Monica Hoth, Zainabu Jallo, Vinicius Jatobá, Vitor Jatobá, Marcia Johnson, MaryAnn Karanja, Andrea Lepcio, Joan Lipkin, Philip Luswata, Abhishek Majumdar, Julie McKee, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Lana Nasser, Yvette Nolan, Matthew Paul Olmos, Giovanni Ortega, Corey Payette, Katie Pearl, Shy Richardson and Karina Yager, Kiana Rivera, Madeline Sayet, Stephen Sewell, Lena Simic with Neal & Sid Anderson, Caridad Svich, Elspeth Tilley, Peterson Toscano, Mike van Graan, Meaza Worku, Marcus Youssef, and Nathan Yungerberg. The book also includes essays about the producing aspect of CCTA 2019 by Thomas Peterson, Julia Levine, Keith Barker, Charissa Menefee, Triga Creative, and Brooke Wood.
Featured playwright and co-founder of CCTA, Caridad Svich, says of the initiative: "We should all be climate warriors and solar punks. It's not too late. And it's not an option. Anything to keep this action alive is vital. It's not a niche issue. It is a life issue. And it affects us all."
The anthology can be purchased in paperback or ebook from Lulu, for $21.95 USD or $9.99 USD respectively. Lighting the Way is also available in paperback from Amazon.
"May [this anthology] contribute to showing the role that the arts and storytelling can play in shifting our culture toward greater resilience and justice, and, ultimately, toward sustainable living," Bilodeau writes in the Introduction.
An initiative of The Arctic Cycle, Climate Change Theatre Action 2019 was a worldwide series of 200+ presentations of short plays held in the fall of 2019 to coincide with the United Nations 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) held in Madrid, Spain and hosted by the government of Chile. For more information: www.climatechangetheatreaction.com
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