Post-Show Sustainability Talkback Announced for World Premiere of ECO VILLAGE

The World Premiere of the new off-Broadway play Eco Village by Phoebe Nir, will include a Post-Show Sustainability Talkback by Cecil Sheib, NYU Chief Sustainability Officer and founder of The Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri, and Michael McDonald, Leading Expert on building Climate-Resilient Infrastructure, following the 7pm performance of Eco Village on Monday, February 4, 2019.

Eco Village is currently running at The Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 W. 46th Street, New York, NY 10036 until February 16, 2019. Performances: Monday and Wednesday at 7pm; Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm; and Saturday and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $35-69 and can be purchased at ecovillagetheplay.com.

Dr. Michael McDonald is involved in the development of the Kalinago Institute on Global Resilience and Regeneration. The Kalinago people were the dominant society of the Caribbean Sea, which was named after them. The Kalinago, as advanced practitioners of indigenous permanent agriculture and fisher people, are a resurgent, low carbon, sustainable society of 3,300 living communally in the coastal rainforests of Waitukubuli (Dominica). Ninety-five percent of the houses in the Kalinago Territory were destroyed during Hurricane Maria in 2017. They have been living without grid electricity for over a year. Unlike other parts of the Caribbean (e.g. Puerto Rico and other parts of Dominica), no Kalinago died during the hurricane. They had food security from ground provisions (root vegetables), which they have grown in a similar way for thousands of years, even though there wasn't a leaf left on the entire island after Hurrican Maria. The Kalinago are now in a recovery process and may be one of the most climate-resilient societies in the world despite being in the hurricane belt.

As chief sustainability officer at the largest private university in the United States, Cecil Scheib led NYU's successful effort to reduce carbon emissions 30% over five years. Cecil formerly served as Chief Program Officer at Urban Green Council and was the Managing Director of the NYC Building Resiliency Task Force. As founder and current board member of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, he helps demonstrate that a lifestyle that slashes ecological footprints by 90% can be happy, healthy, and fun. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and is a licensed professional engineer in the state of New York.

Loosely based on the experiences of playwright Phoebe Nir at the Bread and Puppet Theater, Eco Village explores the complexities of community and the boundaries of human behavior. When temporarily homeless Robin hitchhikes her way to an eco-village seen online, all she wants is a warm meal, a place to sleep, and some new friends. Instead, she finds a parallel universe, where survival skills and New Age optimism are blended together. When Robin falls for Jake, a brilliant but tormented handyman, their connection sets off a series of events that reveal the limits of human connection and the costs of utopia.

The cast includes Lily Davis (Wicked, Frozen at St. Luke's), Michael Oloyede(SCRAPS, Inanimate at The Flea Theater), Pearl Rhein (Broadway: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812), Gregory Isaac Stone (Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike at The Cleveland Playhouse, Geva Theatre, and Cape Cod Playhouse) Arianna Williams (Cookie Heart at the International Filmmaker Festival) and Zoe Wilson (White Effie in Orange is the New Black).

The production team includes Oliver Wason (Lighting Designer), Chloe Treat (Director), Josh Samuels (Sound Designer), Mike Ross (Dramaturg), Meredith Ries (Scenic Designer), Phoebe Nir (Playwright/Producer), R. Christopher Maxwell (Assistant Stage Manager), Kate Lumpkin, CSA (Casting Director), Megan Garner (Properties Designer), Matt Franta (Violence Designer), Jessi Cotter (Production Stage Manager), Blair Bauerschmidt (Costume Designer), Evan Bernardin Productions (General and Production Management), and ABM (Advertising/Marketing).

For more information, visit www.ecovillagetheplay.com.