People across Canada came together to help one another during recent climate disasters, and now Neworld Theatre and the Climate Disaster Project are bringing those true-life stories to the stage. Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Survivor Stories is the first full-length documentary theatre production based upon on-the-ground climate disaster reporting and will have its world premiere at the Phoenix Theatre from September 16-21.
“But what stood out to our playwrights was how people supported one another through those disasters—and the need for more support from people in power.”
“Climate change is happening in the here and now,” says Climate Disaster Project founder Sean Holman, also the Wayne Crookes Professor in Environmental & Climate Journalism with the Department of Writing.
“People know that, regardless of what they think is the cause — and they want to talk about the impacts it’s having on their day-to-day lives, and what can be done about them. This is an opportunity to bring those conversations into the community.”
Audience reflections & leadership solidarity
Every performance is followed by a facilitated talkback, giving audiences a chance to reflect on the stories they’ve heard and share their own experiences of climate disaster. A Vancouver Island political leader will also be present to listen to the performance, as well as the audience, and reflect on how we can help communities impacted by those disasters. Those voices are:
- former BC Liberal cabinet minister George Abbott (Sept. 16)
- Minister of Tourism Arts, Culture Lana Popham (Sept. 17)
- BC Conservative Nanaimo-Lantzville candidate and former NDP MLA Gwen O’Mahony (Sept. 18)
- BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau (Sept. 20)
- BC Conservative Oak Bay-Gordon Head candidate and former Victoria city councillor Stephen Andrew (Sept. 21, matinee)
- Mayor Saanich Dean Murdock (Sept. 21)
Working with interview transcripts from hundreds of British Columbians on the frontlines of climate change, Vancouver’s internationally renowned Neworld Theatre has painted a portrait of 30 ordinary people living in extraordinary times — and a province under pressure from the impacts of climate change.
Featuring survivor testimonies taken by over a dozen UVic Writing students, the show’s creative team also features the talents of UVic Theatre alumni, including director Chelsea Haberlin and co-writer Sebastien Archibald.
Listen to this Sept 10 interview with Holman and director Chelsea Haberlin with CBC Radio’s On The Island host Gregor Craigie, who will be one of the media facilitators during the show.
Read this Sept 13 interview from The Tyee with Neworld Theatre’s Haberlin and Alen Dominguez.
Read this Sept 15 article from Victoria’s Times Colonist newspaper.
A fishing guide who took his boat into flooded farmland to rescue an alligator. An actor rushed to the hospital for heat stroke after performing in front of the legislature. A mother figuring out how to prepare her child for the future after fire flattened their town.
Climate disaster is not far away, not happening to someone else. It is here now, happening to us. Eyes of the Beast shows how we still have each other during those disasters, creating community amidst catastrophe.
About the Climate Disaster Project
Founded in 2021, the Climate Disaster Project has trained hundreds of students at 13 post-secondary institutions to work on the frontlines of this ongoing humanitarian crisis by creating an extensive archive of eyewitness accounts. Nearly 300 testimonies have been collected from disaster survivors and shared in local, national and international publications, as well as national radio and television broadcasts.
Tickets range from $18-$34 and are available now via the Phoenix Theatre box office at 250-721-8000 for 7:30pm Monday-Saturday performances running September 16-21, plus a 2pm matinee on Saturday, September 21.
Professional fishing guide Jordi Williams shows one of the photos he took while rescuing animals trapped on the Sumas Prairie during the 2021 Southern British Columbia floods. Williams’s testimony, co-created by UVic writing student Paul Voll, was included in Eyes of the Beast by Neworld Theatre’s playwrights. (CDP Photo/Phil McLachlan)
The cast of Eyes of the Beast: (from left) Jessica Wong, Danica Charlie, Sarah Conway, Vuk Prodanovic