Pilot Project
NOVEMBER 1 TO DECEMBER 12, 2015
Over 80 collaborators in 26 countries hosted events. In the US alone, 53 events took place in 37 cities. Plays were read, performed, adapted into films and audio pieces, presented as part of day-long festivals or stand-alone events, in theatres, high schools, universities, eco-centers, community centers, people’s living rooms, on radio, and outdoors.
Read the American Theatre Magazine article about the project.
Where Is the Hope?
OCTOBER 1 TO NOVEMBER 18, 2017
Close to 140 collaborators in 23 countries hosted events, reaching an audience of 12,000. In the US, 90 events took place in 60 cities. Plays were read and performed, live and on radio, and presented in a variety of settings including: theatres, high schools, middle schools, universities, yoga studios, community centers, libraries, churches, museums, cafes, bars, people’s living rooms, and outdoors.
The plays are published together in Where Is The Hope? An Anthology of Short Climate Change Plays available from the York University Bookstore. The anthology is also available from your domestic Amazon.
CCTA 2017 was supported by a Connections grant from the Social Science Research Council of Canada, and by a York University Canada 150 grant.
Lighting the Way
SEPTEMBER 15 TO DECEMBER 21, 2019
We asked our playwrights to give center stage to the unsung climate warriors and climate heroes who are lighting the way towards a just and sustainable future. These could be individuals or communities fighting for justice or inventing new technologies; animals, plants, or spirits imparting wisdom; or a part of themselves they didn’t know was there.
Over 220 presenting collaborators in 28 countries produced events, engaging over 3,000 artists and reaching an audience of roughly 26,000 people. In the United States, over 150 events were presented, reaching all 50 states for the first time. The fifty short plays were presented a total of 1067 times, averaging 22 productions of each play. Somewhere between one and 700 people attended each of these performances, which occurred not just at theaters but also at universities, in elementary schools, parks, community centers, churches, and public squares, and even on kayaks.
Read Thomas Peterson’s article about the project on Artists & Climate Change.
The plays are published together in Lighting the Way: An Anthology of Short Plays About the Climate Crisis available in paperback and ebook from Lulu Publishing. The anthology is also available from your domestic Amazon.
Envisioning a Global Green New Deal
SEPTEMBER 19 TO DECEMBER 18, 2021
The Green New Deal is a U.S. policy platform that has been adopted by climate advocates worldwide. Its goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also addressing problems like economic inequality and racial injustice. Playwrights were encouraged to be as bold and forward thinking as they could, and show us what their dream future looked like – and how we might get there.
Despite the difficulties of planning gatherings during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the many cancellations and last minute shifts that occurred from in-person to online events, a group of dedicated producing collaborators still managed to organize a wide variety of events. One hundred and twenty in-person and online events took place in 23 countries, engaging 2,000 artists and reaching 10,000 people. In the U.S., 25 states were represented.
The plays are published together in The Future Is Not Fixed: Short Plays Envisioning a Global Green New Deal available from Applause Books. The anthology is also available from your domestic Amazon.
CCTA 2021 was supported by the KR Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.
All Good Things Must Begin
SEPTEMBER 17 TO DECEMBER 23, 2023
Our theme, “All Good Things Must Begin,” was inspired by the journal entry of American science fiction writer Octavia Butler. Butler was incredibly prescient, writing about extremism, racial justice, and climate change some 30 years ago. By setting intentions and visualizing a positive outcome, she defied the odds and became the author of many celebrated novels, winning each of science fiction’s highest honors. While the worlds of her novels depict the violent challenges of today’s interlocking crises, her protagonists remain devoted to thriving, to achieving survival beyond the destructive and oppressive societies they come from.
The climate crisis demands the same kind of imaginative leap: we will create a just and regenerative world only if we dare to imagine it first, and use that vision to guide us through the difficulties. We all need to be solarpunks and envision radical pluralistic futures where nature and community thrive, and where we reject the apocalypse and embrace counterculture, post-capitalism, and decolonization.