Dig a Little Deeper: Environmental Plays for Earth Day

We remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but perhaps there is a fourth R: Read! This Earth Day, plant some story seeds with this cultivated collection of plays about the environment. Whether examining how natural disasters affect communities or wondering what our role as ordinary people may be in a larger ecological crisis, these stories present a chance to creatively engage with science-based topics.

“Digging up and exposing to the light the presence of the environment in any and every play can also engage communities around the issue, at least enough to help them understand that though they cannot control nature, they can control their personal impact on it.” – Howlround

Each of these plays is budding, blossoming and teeming with life, using storytelling to reconnect us to the environments we live in and often forget to care for. Let’s start digging!

A Bicycle Country by Nilo Cruz (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 2m)
Three characters whose lives seem to be moving nowhere set out to build a dream, even if that dream seems perilous. This stirring portrait of three Cuban exiles and their harrowing journey across the Caribbean Sea due to the effects of climate change examines the universal themes of freedom and oppression, hope and survival. A sobering and absorbing drama about the decisions that cause climate migration and the ache it leaves in those who must leave.

A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick by Kia Corthron (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m, 1 boy)
From the dry Sahara to drought-stricken Maryland, a young Ethiopian man named Abebe comes to live with a mother and daughter grieving the loss of the males in their family to Hurricane Katrina. As Abebe studies to be both a preacher and an ecologist, the family wrestles with their relationship to water: the hurricane that killed their family, the cleansing of baptisms, and the new water bottling plant opening nearby. Personal problems and the politics of drought threaten his new family as Abebe searches to bring healing to everyone, one drop at a time. A refreshing and unique examination of environmental effects on the family unit, in our backyard and across the world.

A Polar Bear in New Jersey by Anna Moench (US/UK)
(Short Play, Comedy / 7w, 3m, 4 any gender)
Hungry and unable to find a bite to eat on the melting polar ice caps, a teenage polar bear named Avinnaq wanders all the way to Bearmont, New Jersey. Change is scary for some, and Avinnaq finds her whole new environment a bit hard to bear. Teen actors play bears, racoons and even an iceberg in this fun, lighthearted comedy about friendship and acceptance. A Polar Bear in New Jersey touches on global warming while reminding us through these furry friends the importance of treating our differences—and the environment—with kindness.

An Enemy of the People (Herzog) by Henrik Ibsen and Amy Herzog (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 7m)
Amy Herzog’s streamlined adaptation of the Ibsen classic is a vibrant and compelling theatrical experience. A small-town doctor considers himself a proud, upstanding member of his close-knit community. When he discovers a catastrophe that risks the lives of everyone in town, he raises the alarm. But he is shaken to his core when those in power, including his own brother, try not only to silence him, but to destroy him. 

Axoloris: The Musical by Sean Mendelson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 15 any gender youth)
In this fun and uplifting musical for a flexible cast, five friends in the not-too-distant future receive a shared vision of Earth’s spiritual messenger Axoloris, who inspires them to protect the planet and make changes for the better when preparing for Earth Day.

Community Garden by Justin Borak (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 6m, 7 any gender)
This series of heartfelt and humorous vignettes digs into the ways taking care of the environment helps people take care of each other. Newbie Ralph doesn’t quite know what to expect during his first volunteer shift at Chicago’s Uptown City Gardens. As the vibrant, bustling community passes through the green space, checking on their plants, composting their food scraps, meeting up with friends and – surprisingly often – falling in love, Ralph begins to believe that the garden is magic. 

Continuity by Bess Wohl (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 3m, 1 any gender)
It’s magic hour in the New Mexico desert as an exhausted film crew races against the setting sun to shoot their blockbuster (but artsy) action movie, which takes place on an arctic (styrofoam) ice floe, and features an ecoterrorist plotting a bombing mission to save all of humankind (supposedly). As the clock ticks and the desert sun beats down on the not-so-frozen landscape, personalities clash, artistic vision meets Hollywood demands, and the gap between fiction and science grows wider than ever. A dark but hilarious “play in six takes,” Continuity interrogates the role of storytelling in a world on the brink of actual environmental crisis.

cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w)
Sometimes our impact on the environment may be invisible to us but viscerally affect the lives of others. It’s Thanksgiving, and Flint, Michigan has already been without clean water for 936 days. cullud wattah finds modern-day tragedy not in the poor decisions of kings and queens but rather in the tragic everyday circumstances confronting a Black family when the poisonous choices of others infect their water. Three generations of strong women try not to let the continuing contamination interfere with their everyday lives. However, water is a necessity, and they are left to meticulously count how many bottles of water their daily tasks require. Poetic language, music and the way water holds memory wash over health issues and familial rifts as these women attempt to heal from a problem they did not cause. This poet-playwright beautifully and heartbreakingly illuminates the ripple effect of failing to care beyond our own sphere.

Eternal Life Part 1 by Nathan Alan Davis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 3m)
Space travel, talking animals and a state-of-the-art home await an American family in their future. But when that future includes the promise of immortality, this family must wrestle with the life that happens along the way. A contemporary fable about wealth, death, our relationship with the natural world, parents and children.

Evanston Salt Costs Climbing by Will Arbery (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m)
Winters keep getting worse in Evanston, IL, where salt truck drivers Peter and Basil battle the ice and snow and pass the time with jokes and stories. But what’s with this creeping sense of dread? Is it because their boss has noble visions of new green technology that would make their jobs obsolete? Or is there a more terrifying warning calling out from under these roads? At least they have each other, right? Pulitzer Prize finalist Will Arbery confronts humanity’s darkest fears with humor, warmth and the fortitude of municipal public servants in this play about climate and change.  

Further Than the Furthest Thing by Zinnie Harris (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 3m)
On a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic, secrets are buried. When the outside world comes calling, intent on manipulation for political and economic reasons, the islanders find their own world blown apart from the inside as well as beyond. This beautifully drawn story evokes the sadness and pathos of a civilization in crisis, illustrating the pain that ripples through communities when human greed and lack of care for the Earth collide.

How to Save a Rock by Pigfoot Theatre, Conky Kampfner, Alex Rugman (UK)
(Short Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 4m)
Caring for the earth is for all ages. In 2009, a trio of climate scientists’ email gets hacked right before a major summit, and in the near future, a young environment-loving girl’s passion dwindles as it seems too late to help. When Frankie receives a letter from the last polar bear on Earth asking for assistance, her trio of friends picks up where the scientists left off on a quest to make a difference. Complete with opportunities for bike-powered lighting, recycled and repurposed props, and an updatable script, this show invites its audience on a carbon-neutral adventure. Delightfully inventive and heavily interactive, How to Save a Rock reminds us to still have hope and gives us the opportunity to actively help the environment while still at the theatre.

Hurricane Diane by Madeleine George (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w)
Often, the effects on the environment are invisible—until they aren’t. The gusts of an ecological crisis, women’s affinity for HGTV-inspired lawns, and elements of Greek Bacchanalia create the perfect storm that is Hurricane Diane. Utilizing an ensemble of New Jersey housewives and the latest iteration of Dionysus as a butch permaculture gardener, playwright Madeleine George pens a hilariously thrilling tale on the perils of interfering with nature. As a reframing of the climate crisis fueled by laughs and chaotic characters, this story offers a comedic entryway into conversations about our relationship with the environment.

If There is I Haven’t Found it Yet by Nick Payne (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m)
Surviving school as a fat kid is tough enough. When your mum’s a teacher, it’s hell. Anna’s dad is obsessed with saving the world and her maverick uncle Terry is dossing on the couch. When Anna hits back at the bullies, she gets suspended from school and stuck at home with Uncle Terry, where an unexpected friendship blossoms. This story of a family trying to save everyone but themselves is a sharp and hilarious consideration about whether it’s best to act on a macro-level or micro-level toward climate issues.

Jack and the Soy Beanstalk by Jerrod Bogard, Emily Fellner and Sky Seals (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 6m)
Follow Jack up the beanstalk once more in this zany, 45-minute musical romp. Times have changed though, and Jack faces new obstacles on his journey – like how to make his truck go without gasoline and how to stop his mother from selling off his precious video games! Jack learns sometimes you have to take a leap of faith, but that when you do, you have to be prepared for anything – even a giant! But in this modern-day fable the giant isn’t just some tall guy in the clouds. He’s the C.E.O. of a giant farming corporation: Big Aggie Reaping Farms (B.A.R.F.). Through his battle with the Giant, Jack discovers that greed consumes itself, and that only through the help of our neighbors will we all prosper. Filled with comedy, puppetry, and lots of heart, Jack and the Soy Beanstalk plants the seeds of self-reliance, conservationism, and good ol’ American ingenuity.

Kayak by Jordan Hall (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 1m)
When your son heads off the college and begins dating an environmental activist, competing for family time is like paddling upstream. In this play, suburban mother Annie Iversen finds herself immersed quite literally in the landscape of the environmental crisis as she recounts a whole chain of events while stuck floating in Peter’s old kayak. Hilarious, touching and thought-provoking, Kayak provides a personal lens into the climate crisis, helping audiences recognize their everyday responsibility to the environment.

Lungs by Duncan Macmillan (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 1m)
The world is getting hotter, there’s unrest overseas – the seas themselves aren’t very calm – and one couple is thinking about having a child. If they overthink it, they’ll never do it. But if they rush, it could be a disaster. This smart and funny drama follows a couple through the surprising lifecycle of their relationship as they grapple with questions of family and change, hope, betrayal, happenstance and the terrible pain that you can only cause the people you love.

Mlima’s Tale by Lynn Nottage (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 3m)
Mlima is a magnificent elephant trapped by the underground international ivory market. As he follows a trail littered by a history of greed, two-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage takes us on a journey through memory, fear, tradition and the destruction that follows in its wake. This thought-provoking, heart-wrenching play speaks to the pain and the suffering of the natural world in a beautiful, complex and engaging way.

Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Scott Friedman and Anne Washburn (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play with Music, Dark Comedy / 5w, 3m)
What will endure when the cataclysm arrives – when the grid fails, society crumbles, and we’re faced with the task of rebuilding? Anne Washburn’s imaginative dark comedy is an animated exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another. A powerfully modern morality tale about how storytelling brings together communities in the aftermath of climate destruction.

Putting the Kettle On by Simon Brett (UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 1w)
When your boyfriend dumps you for a more environmentally savvy gal, the breakup may make every move feel like a climate crisis. Miggy recounts her sorry story from her kitchen, where she cannot seem to decide whether making a cup of tea would be a detriment to the environment. Putting the Kettle On comically reflects the ways in which our minds ramble when both grieving a breakup and deciding where we can help the planet.

Queen by Madhuri Shekar (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m)
With a central female friendship pollinated by the complexity of researching colony collapse disorder, Madhuri Shekar’s Queen questions whether integrity or action is more important for environmental efforts. The story follows two women in STEM, mathematician Sanam Shah and biologist Ariel Spiegel, as they encounter discrepancies in their research on the role of pesticides in the declining bee population. Like bees to beekeepers, science works with, around and despite the imperfect humans who practice it. Brainy yet heartwarming, this play explores the relationship between science, conscience and heart that allows one to learn about ecology, bees and even one’s own self.

SHEWOLVES by Sarah Middleton (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w)
Ever thought you should run the world, even though you’re only 14 and a girl? Priya and Lou have. And they’re ready to bite back against any adult who doubts them. The pair embarks on a covert expedition into the wild in this uplifting, funny and empowering play about forging friendships when you’re a bit weird, the power of hope and the smartness of teens.

Song of Extinction by E. M. Lewis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 5m)
Lily Forrestal has cancer, biologist Ellery Forrestal is trying to save the rare Bolivian insect he studies from deforestation, and their son Max Forrestal is going to fail biology if he does not finish a 20-page paper on extinction by Monday. Max’s biology teacher Khim Phan is the only one to notice the young musician’s somber melody. Song of Extinction, a symphony of emotions and existence, offers a look into life and loss on micro- and macroscopic levels. Showing us three perspectives on extinction—that of a dying mother, a biologist, and a Cambodian refugee—this play looks at the climate crisis from an intimate, emotional angle. In a time fraught with loneliness and impending problems, the play reminds us of the beauty in the world and how we may miss it if we continue to neglect its care.

The Apiary by Kate Douglas (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5w)
Zora is overqualified for her new job at the lab, but she’s there because she loves bees – or what is left of them, as it has been years since bees produced honey or pollinated certain fruits and flowers. Her sweet coworker, Pilar, and stressed supervisor, Gwen, have learned to keep their heads and budgets down so their research doesn’t get discontinued. Zora, however, doesn’t mind spending her own time and money to try to rehabilitate the bee population. When an unfortunate incident in the lab leads to a boost in the bees’ numbers, Zora and Gwen have to decide just how far they’re willing to go to keep the population growing in this unsettling and sharp-witted cautionary tale. 

The Council by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 4m)
This poignant drama tells the story about how Man was able to evolve with the help of the nations of animals that lived in harmony with one another. However, as Man and his nation grow, their harmony with animals quickly diminishes. A one-act fable that inspects humanity’s relationship to nature.

The Play About My Dad by Boo Killebrew (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama  /  4w, 4m, 1 boy)
On Earth, natural disasters are, well, natural, as we experience hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, droughts, wildfires and more. With increasing human contributions to global warming comes the possibility for more abundant and intense natural disasters. The Play About My Dad navigates the playwright’s own memories of Hurricane Katrina and its effect on her family and hometown of Gulfport, MS. Exploring a storm and the stories within it, Boo writes about the increasing absence of her father, Larry Killebrew, a lifesaving emergency room surgeon. A flood warning for your tear ducts, this story offers healing for the Killebrews, Gulfport, and similar communities affected by natural disaster while reminding us how natural disasters force us to pick up the pieces of own our lives.

The See-Saw Tree by David Wood (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 16 boys or girls)
The See-Saw Tree is a 300-year-old oak tree, and it is rooted where the town wishes to build a new parking lot and playground. When environmental activist Mr. Bunn asks the residents to think how the removal of the tree may affect the inhabitants inside, we are transported into the animal world where a bat, owl, rabbit, birds and more strive to save their home. Family-friendly and imaginative, this play asks us to consider the animals who live around us when making decisions about our homes.

The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 4m)
Meet George and Maggie Antrobus of Excelsior, New Jersey, a suburban commuter-town couple (married for 5,000 years); the two Antrobus children, Gladys (perfect in every way, of course) and Henry (who likes to throw rocks and was formerly known as Cain); and their garrulous maid, Sabina (the eternal seductress), who takes it upon herself to break out of character and interrupt the course of the drama at every opportunity (“I don’t understand a word of this play!”). Combining farce, burlesque and satire, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play accounts humanity’s time on earth as it depicts an Everyman family narrowly escaping one end-of-the-world disaster after another, from the Ice Age to flood to war. 

To Tell a Story About the Earth by Miranda Rose Hall (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6 any gender)
After a disastrous first production, a fledgling theatre company wants to call it quits. But when the local librarian requests a new performance for Earth Day, the artists have a decision to make. Part scripted play, part guided introduction to devising methods, this unique work prompts ensembles everywhere to create and share an original show about the natural world close to home.

Uncle Vanya by Heidi Schreck and Anton Chekhov (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 5m)
Sonia and her uncle, Vanya, have devoted their lives to managing the family farm in isolation. When her father and his charismatic wife move in, lives are upended. In the heat of the summer, the wrong people fall in love, desires and resentments erupt, and family is forced to reckon with the ghosts of their unlived lives. A hit on Broadway starring Steve Carell, Heidi Schreck’s gorgeous, contemporary translation of Chekhov’s enduring masterpiece is refreshingly funny, deeply moving and strikingly immediate. In terms of the environment, it’s a knowing look at the ecological harm brought on by 19th-century industrialization paired with poetic reflections on the full spectrum of human relationships to nature.

Zameen by Satinder Kaur Chohan (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 4m)
In a dusty, time-warped Indian village, Baba, an aging Sikh cotton farmer, toils away in his fields, struggling against the vagaries of nature and the modern world. His dutiful daughter Chandni dreams of escaping her fate. Her wastrel brother Dhani dreams of ‘Amrika’. When the moneylender Lal’s son Suraj returns from the outside world, Chandni and Dhani reflect on faded lives and aspirations and reach for ‘phoren’ dreams. A final reckoning on Baba’s land draws out truths, forcing the family to the brink of collapse, in a world changing fast and losing its values. Rooted in Punjabi farming and folk culture, ancestral land and soil, Zameen (“land”) captures a world in transition, as nature, tradition and globalisation violently collide around small village lives – lives steeped in a history of toil, struggle and resilience.

For more environmentally-themed plays and musicals, visit Concord Theatricals in the US or UK.