BIG GREEN THEATER: HARBOR SCHOOL
Save the dates for the culminating performances of students' work:
- May 14, 3pm at LMCC Arts Center, Governors Island
- June 14, 9am at Hudson River Park, Manhattan
Our 15th year of eco-playwriting with public school students is in full swim! The latest version of BGT is a partnership with the New York Harbor School, a public school on Governors Island with a marine-focused curriculum, as well as LMCC Arts Center. Our spring 2025 program will consist of weekly workshops over 4 months, as a contingent of the school’s Harbor Seals after-school club.
The focus of this spring’s program is the magical migratory fish of the Mahicantuck (Hudson River). Students are playwriting with BGT teaching artists Megan Paradis Hanley and Daniella de Jesus, songwriting with composer-performer treya lam, and crafting fish puppets with puppeteer Greg Corbino!
Students' work will be shared at LMCC Arts Center on Governors Island on May 14, and then again on June 14 as part of Riverkeeper's Fish Migration Celebration. Save the dates!
Big Green Theater (BGT) is an eco-playwriting program for public school students that uplifts the imaginations of young people at the frontlines of climate and environmental justice and brings their ideas to life on stage. BGT aims to inspire students to manifest a sustainable and just community by using the power of their creative voice.
SUPPORT OUR 2025 SEASON
SUPPORT OUR 2025 SEASON
Get ready for a very fishy 15th annual BIG GREEN THEATER climate justice playwriting program for public school students. This spring we’re partnering with the NY Harbor School as well as legendary environmental advocates Riverkeeper to celebrate the magical migratory fish species of the Hudson River. Students will learn about the body-altering journeys of local diadromous fish like sturgeon, eels, and shad, the threats they face, and proposed strategies to protect them. Our young collaborators will bring these fishy adventures to life through word, song, and puppets, and their creations will contribute to a Fish Migration Festival that Riverkeeper is piloting in June.
We offer the Big Green Theater program to schools free of charge, which means we need your support to keep it going!
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Applications are open for the GHOST BIKE FELLOWSHIP, a six-month paid residency in which community members who have been impacted by traffic violence are invited to compost their grief and grow their activism through creative processing. Through workshops with local leaders in transportation justice and hands-on service and design projects, the fellows will collaborate on a public performance that activates existing Ghost Bike Memorials and envisions a future of safe streets for NYC.
We pay fellows to participate so that their creative labor is valued and money is not a barrier for those who might not otherwise be able to apply. Help us invest in arts work and transportation justice by making a donation!
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We’re in the midst of bookings for another year of our signature WORKSHOPS, Eco-Performance Lab and Science Storytelling, offering tools and frameworks for creative response, collaboration, and communication surrounding climate science and environmental justice. Accessible to a wide range of participants, our workshops can be run virtually or in person, and are adaptable to meet a variety of curricula, participants, and time frames.
We subsidize our workshops via a sliding scale in order to keep them affordable for all.
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Look out for more opportunities in 2025 to play THERE WILL BE MONSTERS, a theatrical game experience for a hopeful climate future. Travel through a magical version of the Hudson River bioregion, meeting a colorful cast of multi-species inhabitants along the way. Use your characters’ unique abilities to grow a movement against the monsters. Gain tools and allies by helping communities with adaptation projects. Discover root causes and hone your strategy. Can you increase the health of the bioregion before new monsters arrive? The future depends on your collective decisions, and time is of the essence…
It takes a village to develop and produce such an ambitious project, and we are dedicated to ensuring that everyone who works with us is paid equitably. Your support is paramount to meeting our production budget– we truly can’t do it with you!
We rely on the support of our community to create our work and keep it accessible. Consider making a tax-deductible donation and joining us in modeling a better world through innovative, creative programming for all. Every contribution, big or small, makes a significant impact.