All Good Things Must Begin!: Climate Change Theatre Action

Gifts for a Better Future
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for gifts by local vendors and information in the gallery, including Gourds by Fafa, books for all ages on climate and related subjects from Ivy Bookshop, information from 350.org, The Years Project, and more! The bar will be open.

Show Begins at 7 p.m. and will be ASL Interpreted
Every two years since 2015 (when the Paris agreement was signed), 50 playwrights from around the world have been commissioned to write short plays that inform and inspire action around climate change. This year’s Climate Change Theatre Action theme, “All Good Things Must Begin,” is inspired by speculative fiction writer Octavia Butler’s journals. We are creating the December event with this in mind, as well as Butler’s invitation to us to “shape change,” as expressed in her Parable books. 

Baltimore theatre artists, activists, and others are coming together to read seven plays from five countries that will help us connect the dots between what is happening around climate and environmental justice, globally and locally. Visual artist Maura Dwyer performs her crankie Wilder than Walls, and Sanahara Ama Chandra provides original music to help us bring our hearts and minds together. 

Our Selection of Short Plays
Types by Jessica Huang
Chili Crab Less Spicy by Dia Hakim K.
Photographic Realism by Javad Alipoor
Bonbibi and Dakshan Ray by Manjima Chatterjee
The Committee to Expropriate, A Revenge Fantasy by Darrah Teitel
A Little Green by Charly Evon Simpson
The Polar Bears by Nicolas Billon

Community Connections and Conversation
After the show, Conversation Partners from the UMBC Theatre Department, 350.org, and environmental justice advocate Naadiya Hutchinson will help us to understand challenges of the climate crisis in Baltimore and beyond, as well as some of the good things that have already begun to address them. Join us, and find out how you can get involved!

Ticketing
Vital Matters’ tiered ticketing system, from $10 to $75, with limited numbers of tickets at each price, is meant to make the event accessible to all. If you have the means to purchase a ticket of $35 or higher, know that this helps to pay our artists, and enables others to join us who might not otherwise be able to.

$10 Discounted Ticket
$20 Acorn | regular price
$35 Pollinator | your contribution helps support all involved in the production of this event
$50 Underground Spring | your contribution helps to support all involved in the production of this event, and helps those who are financially challenged or without means to attend
$75 Change Shaper | your contribution helps to support all involved in the production of this event, enables those who are financially challenged or without means to attend, and gives Vital Matters a small boost towards our next events, Whose Earth (Day)? and Queer Climate Cabaret