Photo Flash: First Look at Underground Railway's SILA at Central Square Theater

Underground Railway Theater presents the world premiere of Chantal Bilodeau's Sila, now through May 25, 2014. Sila directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

On Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, eight characters - including a climatologist, an Inuit activist, and two polar bears - find their values challenged as they grapple with a rapidly changing environment and world. Winner of the Inaugural Woodward International Playwriting Prize, Sila blends Inuit myth with contemporary Arctic policy, three languages (English, French, and Inukitut), and spoken word poetry to illuminate competing interests shaping the future of the local Inuit population and of our planet.

Nowhere is the inescapable reality of our changing climate more apparent than in the Arctic, where warming temperatures are displacing entire ecosystems and changing local populations' way of life. We have a wealth of scientific data to describe these disruptions. We also need human stories to help us grasp the impact of this chaotic moment and turn it into an opportunity for growth. Sila reveals the impacts of climate change on aboriginal cultures and dominant cultures, social responsibility and personal responsibility, resource development and the natural world. The story moves from science to mythology, from first-world policies to age-old traditions, asking: "How do we confront what is happening to our planet and let it inspire us to act?"

Through Central Square Theater's science-theater partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, world-class climate scientists have advised the script development and rehearsal process. Through Central Conversations, a series of pre- and post-show events, audiences will have the chance to be in conversation with climate experts, as well as with Community Partners - including 350MA, Cultural Survival, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and others - who will help us bring the vital questions raised by Sila home to greater Boston.

Sila is an Inuktitut word meaning "the substance of life; the breath that circulates in and out of every living thing."

Tickets for Sila start at $15 and are currently on sale at CentralSquareTheater.org or by calling 866.811.4111.

Photo Credit: A.R. Sinclair Photography