UFV Theatre presents the first production of its 2021-2022 theatre season, Climate Change Theatre Action 2021, directed by visiting guest artist Elaine Ávila.

Performances: November 25 & 26, 2021 at 7pm

November 27, 2021 at 2pm

(All times are Pacific Daylight Time)

* live, via zoom, free of charge

Zoom can be downloaded here https://zoom.us/download

Please download Zoom and log into the performance link 5-10 minutes prior to the start time.

Ticket registration ends 2 hours before event start times. All registrants will be sent a Zoom link one day prior to their event date from Theatre@ufv.ca

Post-Performance Talkbacks will occur after every show, which promise to enhance audience members’ understanding of the performance. Special guest playwrights will also be attending the Post-Performance Talkbacks to discuss their ideas and answer audience members’ questions.

November 25, 2021. Guest playwright: Angella Emurwon, Initiation.

November 26, 2021. Guest playwright: Dylan Van Den Berg, The Consultation.

November 27, 2021. Guest playwright: Yvette Nolan, Ranger.

About the Production

Climate Change Theatre Action 2021 is a globally distributed theatre festival, now in its fourth iteration, made up of 51 short plays by world-renowned playwrights and creators from every continent on earth, to encourage conversation, community, and action around the climate crisis. This festival is presented in conjunction with the biannual United Nation Climate Change Talks, held this year in Glasgow (COP 26).

UFV Theatre is excited to create theatrical videos of ten of these short and engaging plays, launching a restart to creating, rehearsing, and designing theatre live and in person. Students are utilizing a wide variety of tools available at UFV to create the videos, including editing software, green screen technology, costume, make up, sets, lighting, video design, indoor and outdoor shoots, and Adobe animation software.

The plays range from an exploration of the personal costs of turning Canada into an ecological preserve 150 years in the future, to the comic perspective of a baby salmon in our waterways in B.C., to an in depth look at what “consultation” between government and First Nations truly means, from the perspective of a Palawa author. Director Elaine Ávila shares, “I am enormously grateful to UFV SoCA for programming and participating in this year’s Climate Change Theatre Action, an initiative I co-founded six years ago which now reaches 40,000 participants, worldwide. Students at UFV are learning about international performance and innovative initiatives to face the climate crisis.”

The authors of the plays are Métis, Algonquin, Oji-Cree, Azorean Portuguese, Ugandan, Canadian, South Asian, Mohegan, Aboriginal Australian from the Palawa people of Tasmania, and Turtle Mountain Chippewan. The plays chosen for this production are: Initiation by Angella Emurwon; The Consultation by Dylan Van Den Berg; Mossom Creek by Elaine Ávila; My Apology by Keith Barker; When by Wren Brian, Mizhakwad (The Sky is Clear) by Dylan Thomas Elwood; FRIENDS FOR LIFE By Himali Kothari; Green New Steal by Corey Payette; Ranger by Yvette Nolan; and What We Give Back by Madeline Sayet.

Director’s Note

Welcome to the production of the Climate Change Theatre Action, 2021, at the University of the Fraser Valley! Please, make yourself comfortable. Hook up to a big screen if you can, make a cup of tea, or have another beverage to relax, get cosy, and settle in for 55 minutes. Led by Director of School of Creative Arts Heather Davis-Fisch and Associate Dean Tetsuomi Anzai, mentored by UFV faculty and staff (thank you, please see credits), students have made videos for you, full of passion, thoughtfulness, design, humour and connection to the vision of 10 playwrights from Uganda to Tasmania/Lutruwita.

I chose these 10 short plays (out of a possible 51, please see below), because they are deep and complex: I believed that the student actors, editors and designers, and now you, our audiences, would enjoy contemplating them for a long time.

In our part of the world, the film and television industry has a far reach, and stories are praised for being “binge-worthy,” “relatable,” with clear “take home” values, often ending with a big battle between “good” and “evil.” The plays I have chosen have other values and aesthetics, intended to help us find new paths forward, as together, we face the climate crisis. These playwrights speak honestly about “consultation,” exploring what it truly mean; they write about the joy of solving literary puzzles, a Prime Minister making a true apology, the bravery of the Jal Sahelis, a group of women from Bundelkhand who have revived methods of water harvesting that could help us in British Columbia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lKOYB5CHqg); and they explore humor and personal sacrifice. They help us envision our future. Some of the plays are questions, meant to provoke thought, discussion, and perhaps most importantly, action. Thank you so much for joining us.

–Elaine Ávila

Background: I co-founded the Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) in 2015, with New York City based playwrights Chantal Bilodeau and Caridad Svich, at the request of Roberta Levitow, one of the founders of Theatre Without Borders, to raise awareness about the United Nations Climate Change Conferences, for more voices to be included in these conversations: https://ukcop26.org/ We built up the first CCTA to include 50 playwrights, 200 venues, and 12,000 participants from every continent on earth. This year is now our 4th theatre action, and we have published two anthologies, and now reach 40,000 worldwide. Everyone is welcome to participate in this global festival, the playwrights have agreed to make their plays available, royalty free, from October 25th to December 4th, from readings in living rooms to full productions. This year, the kick off of was in Central Park in New York City, and you are participating by attending now: http://www.climatechangetheatreaction.com/events/

About the Cast & Crew

CCTA 2021 features UFV Theatre student ensemble actors Sarah Byers, Emmanuel Akpoviroro, and Jennifer Steadman. Student production designers include Brooklyn Doornbos (hair and makeup), Lisa Patetta (costumes, Assistant Stage Manager, Assistant Director), and Makayla Pollock (lights and costumes). Backstage student crew include Stefan Boekhorst (sound/set), Joshua Franklin (lights/props), Trevor Marsh (sound/voice) and Aimée Payeur (set/props). Students are mentored by part-time faculty member and UFV alumni Matthew Piton, wardrobe manager Heather Robertson, theatre technician Mark Sutherland, and media arts assistant professor William Maher.

Make a Donation

Performances will be held via zoom and tickets are free; however, audience members are encouraged to make a donation to the UFV Indigenous Student Emergency Fund when they reserve tickets, and we encourage audience members to educate themselves about the ongoing legacy of residential schools and the relationship between climate change and the intergenerational effects of colonization.

Donating to the UFV Indigenous Student Emergency Fund is one small action we can take to begin to reckon with the enormity of colonial practices and to become better stewards of this place, and by helping Indigenous students at UFV meet their educational goals, audience members can take a positive step towards Indigenizing and reconciliation.

You can donate here: https://connect.ufv.ca/indigenous-student-emergency-fund

For more information about UFV Theatre productions go to ufv.ca/plays

Disclaimer

The University of the Fraser Valley (“UFV”) will be using Eventbrite to manage registration for the Climate Change Theatre Action production. UFV is collecting your personal information through Eventbrite under section 26(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Registration through Eventbrite is voluntary. Please be aware that IP addresses, event responses and personal email addresses (if supplied in place of a business email) will be collected by Eventbrite, and this information will be stored by Eventbrite outside of Canada. By clicking on the Attend Event or Register button, you are consenting to your personal information (IP address, event response and email address) being stored in the United States. Your consent is effective as soon as you register.

If you do not wish to register using Eventbrite, please email soca@ufv.ca who will register you manually. If you have any questions about the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, please contact soca@ufv.ca