Graduate Student Ben Stasny opens Climate Cabaret as Artistic Director
The Theatre & Dance department鈥檚 production of Climate Cabaret: A cabaret of short plays and songs on climate runs from September 24th to October 3rd. In collaboration with Climate Change Theatre Action 2021 in New York City, Artistic Director and M.A. Student Ben Stasny has assembled a team of faculty and student directors for this production in the University Theater. Ben described the creative process that brought this project to life:
鈥淢y major research interest is interrogating the intersection between theatre and climate change. Last year, I served on the theatre season planning committee and one of our goals was to produce new and diverse work. I knew that Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) would soon be releasing their 2021 anthology of plays and suggested that we consider producing a show about climate change. After reading all 50 plays from CCTA, I helped pick 9 that I thought would be fun and exciting to produce. I worked with Beth Osnes to add in 9 additional songs and skits that she had devised with artistic collaborators over her career. I also wanted to make sure we had a directing team that could handle this material by pulling from their own lived experiences and thus assembled a team of 7 directors to make this production happen. My goal was to help amplify the voices of those who disproportionately suffer the devastations of climate change the most but contribute to its acceleration the least. The show has been a very communal experience. The actors, directors, designers and technical team have worked closely to make this show what it is and I couldn't be more proud and excited to share it with our audiences!鈥
Tickets for Climate Cabaret are on sale now for $22, with discounts available for groups (10+), seniors, youth, and CU 麻豆影院 faculty, staff, and students. Call the Box Office at 303-492-8008, email cupresents@colorado.edu, or .