''The Climate Monologues'' is an episodic one-woman play, created and performed by Sharon Abreu. Inspired by

The Vagina Monologues ''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run in at Westside Theatre. The play explores cons ...

, ''The Climate Monologues'' consists of a series of monologues and original songs from the point of view of people affected by and working to prevent

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. The play premiered at the Orcas Island Grange in Eastsound, WA, on May 16, 2010. On March 11, 2011, Abreu received The Spirit of Nature, Ecology and Society Environmental Justice Award. at ''The Culture of Climate Change'' colloquium at the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

(CUNY) Graduate Center in New York City, for her presentation of ''The Climate Monologues''. Abreu performed an updated version of the show on March 27, 2016, in the Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival. Orcas Issues (now The Orcasonian) said in a review of a September 8, 2016, performance at Random Howse in Eastsound, WA: "Sharon Abreu is an inspired listener. She listens to the stories of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

families, NW activists, Tribal leaders, Mississippi teachers, a Colorado

cowgirl A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

and Orcas’ own Lea Bossler and tells them back to us in compelling, non-scientific language about the world we live in." Theater reviewer Lexi Orphanos wrote, "Abreu’s monologues bring a humanity to the statistics that plaster our newspapers and Facebook feeds. She doesn’t just give you the facts, she gives you a human life, bent and reshaped by environmental abuse." A September 24, 2016, performance at the United Solo Theatre Festival sold out, was listed as a bestseller and a repeat performance was added which took place on November 18, 2016. The play was featured in chapter 6, ''Orcas Island's Irthlingz: Community Art as Activism'' in the 2016 book, ''A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism'', by Mark Pedelty, published by Indiana University Press.

Plot/Structure

''The Climate Monologues'' is made up of a varying number of monologues in the voices of real people affected by or working to

address climate change Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels b ...

. Each of the monologues deals with a topic related to

, such as health and mountaintop removal mining,

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a Orders of magnitude (time), human timescale. It includes sources such as Solar power, sunlight, wind power, wind, the movement of Hydropo ...

, rail freight transport of coal and oil, and citizen

activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

. A recurring theme is the individual citizen taking successful action to address issues related to

climate change and energy In the 21st century, the earth's climate and its energy policy interact and their relationship is studied and governed by a variety of national and international institutions. The relationships between energy-resource depletion, climate change, ...

. New monologues have been added over the years to highlight emerging issues relating to climate change. The number and order of the monologues has been varied to accommodate time limitations and dramatic considerations.

References

External links

Climate Monologues official website

Climate Monologues: Excerpts on YouTube

Climate Monologues: More Excerpts on YouTube

PBS Interview (Scitech Now), Feb. 6, 2017

Irthlingz non-profit official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Climate Monologues, The 2010 in the environment 2010 plays Plays for one performer American plays Climate change plays