Performing in the rain (about the rain) at the Gowanus Dredgers Community Boathouse. Photo by Lucky Bommireddy.
I directed and co-wrote Rainy Day Play as the 2022 Artist in Residency for NYU’s FloodNet Center. Rainy Day Play is a public art project about flooding, flood sensors, and the communities we create after/because of/despite disasters, covered in NY City News Service.
Together, with a group of six theatermakers and three production artists, we performed in three neighborhoods where FloodNet was installing flood sensors, the Gowanus Dredgers Community Boathouse, Edgemere Farm, and the West Harlem Piers.
After each performance, we hosted an interactive community talkback with nourishment cooked from produce from Edgemere Farm that engaged community members and asked their visions for a more equitable and climate justice city. Each night brought over 100+ audience members, and we even performed in the rain one night. Also, we made a 40 page zine about community flood protection (click here to see it!) A month later, we were commissioned by the Columbia Climate School to perform at their Sandy+10 conference at the West Harlem Piers, and a journalist wrote about us!
I’m honored by all of the climate organizers, artists, farmers, parents, scientists, surfers, disaster management professionals, resiliency planners, and community members in these neighborhoods who have talked to us about their vision for climate justice through the arts.
