Photo courtesy of Joan Lipkin, That Uppity Theatre Company
That Uppity Theatre Company is bringing Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) to St. Louis. The project, initiated by The Arctic Cycle, will combine theater performances and an art crawl, which will take over McPherson Avenue between Euclid and Walton on October 16. The event is co-produced by That Uppity Theatre Company Artistic Director Joan Lipkin and Pamela Reckamp.
“Climate Change Theatre Action is an endeavor that’s been around for a while,” Lipkin says. “It’s an international effort. I think that we will be part of over 250 events in 30 countries using the arts to call attention to the most pressing issue of our time.”
Every two years, The Arctic Cycle commissions about 50 writers from around the world to create a short play centered around climate change. In 2019, Lipkin was commissioned to write a piece inspired by a prompt about a spirit. She wrote About that Chocolate Bar, a short play about a woman “having a foodgasm” over a chocolate bar when the spirit of the rainforest appears and schools her about where the food comes from.
“It's very funny,” Lipkin says. “It's also quite devastating, but her world gets rocked.”
One of the most important things about Climate Change Theatre Action, Lipkin says, is that the work they share is creative and artful. One of the short plays, Brackendale by Elaine Ávila, features two eagles — one optimistic, one pessimistic — bickering over where they can find the best food.
“When is the last time, if ever, that you saw two eagles be the center of the dramatic action?” Lipkin says. “But, you can go see that piece, and then you can go out onto the street and visit the World Bird Sanctuary.”
The event starts near Pi Pizzeria, which will host jazz and classical guitarist Carol Eder. Guests can enjoy Eder's tunes while wandering from gallery to gallery, enjoying plays and perusing materials from 10 organizations tabling along the street. From 1-4 p.m., attendees can visit multiple galleries on McPherson Avenue for a short play or two of fewer than 10 minutes before proceeding through the crawl. The event features eight short pieces and two dance performances, many of which will be performed in participating galleries, including Duane Reed, Houska, Philip Slein and Projects +.
In the casting of each performance, That Uppity Theatre Company focused on ensuring diversity, specifically in age. Actors range from high-school age to 80 years old. They include students from the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, who will perform an adaptation of 18-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg’s speech to the United Nations called “How Dare You.”
“I think it’s very important that we present an intergenerational, racially mixed, gender-diverse arts offering,” Lipkin says. “This is something that affects all of us.”
Lipkin says she hopes Climate Change Theatre Action will shed light on the effects of climate change and what people can do to help.
“It's a very challenging time, so we think that there's something wonderful about people being able to walk up a block, stop, and see this,” she says. “We're going to have a number of tables so people can get information about different organizations and what is available out there if they want to be involved or find out more about what's going on in their local environment.”
Participating organizations include the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Project Animal Freedom, The Great Rivers Greenway District, and World Bird Sanctuary, among others. Outdoor activities include performances from Karlovsky and Company Dance and Ashleyliane Dance Company, as well as on-site voter registration via St. Louis Voter Registration Group.
“I think people need to know these things,” Lipkin says. “We do arts as our pathway to helping people engage. This is one of the ways that I am, in my small way, trying to be useful. I don't want people to be without hope.”
