“The climate crisis creates so much anxiety for so many of us, and at times it feels truly overwhelming. But there IS hope and keeping that hope alive is what can create the change we need to alter the trajectory.”
WHO: Emily K. Harrison
WHAT: “A collage style devised work exploring the (potential) collapse of the Anthropocene, this personal meditation on the climate crisis explores the beauty and inevitability of impermanence. Born from the debris of late-stage capitalism, Things We Will Miss features performers in disparate roles, including an amateur astronomer, a park ranger, mythological prophet Cassandra, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and ultimately, themselves. Driven by image, light, and sound rather than linear narrative, it viscerally explores the grief and beauty, the horror and hope inherent in being alive in this very moment.”
WHERE: C ARTS | C venues | C aquila – studio (Venue 21)
WHEN: 15:30 (75 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This is indeed my first time to Edinburgh! I’m thrilled to spend time in the city and to be part of the Fringe. I plan to take in as many shows as I reasonably can because it’s just so rare to be in a place and a moment in time when so much is available – the possibilities feel endless. I’m looking forward to checking out other venues and making connections with other artists and audience members from around the world.
I think an opportunity like this is what you make of it, yeah? I’ve previously produced/performed in other theatre/fringe festivals and it’s always such an incredible experience, so I’m really looking forward to experiencing the OG Fringe!
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I mean 2023 feels like it was just yesterday…
As far as our show is concerned, we developed most of it in 2023, and we staged a workshop production of it in Boulder, Colorado last summer, which was incredibly helpful. We got some great audience feedback and I learned to trust my instincts as a theatre-maker and director. I also learned (again) how wonderful it can be to bring people who have never met together to work on something that everyone in the room feels passionate about – what a beautiful experience building these communities in service of making something is! I also learned from my cast how incredibly important it is to focus on finding hope. The climate crisis creates so much anxiety for so many of us, and at times it feels truly overwhelming. But there IS hope and keeping that hope alive is what can create the change we need to alter the trajectory.
Tell us about your show.
The show is a devised piece, so we created it together (we being the performers, the designers, the management team – all of us). square product theatre developed and is producing the piece – we’re a Boulder, Colorado-based theatre company that primarily creates and produces new work. The structure of the show revolves in part around my role as a teacher navigating a swiftly changing world alongside my students, and grew out of a project I created with students as part of a class I was teaching in 2022 at Sewanee: The University of the South in Tennessee. From there I decided I was interested in developing the material into a longer piece and invited current and former students to collaborate. At it’s heart, the piece is a conversation between myself and former students from three separate institutions: Hamilton College in Clinton, New York (where I currently teach), Sewanee, and the University of Colorado Boulder.
We staged a workshop production in Boulder, Colorado last summer, but we’ve continued to develop the material so the version we’ll be bringing to Edinburgh is new. We don’t currently have active plans to take the piece anywhere after, but I’m personally very interested in the show having a life in the future! I think it’s a beautiful piece and I’d love to present it in other cities and festivals.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
On the topic of climate change, audiences should also check Coin Toss Collective’s FREAK OUT, which is “a show about coastal erosion, community, and what we owe to each other,” Dan Sheehan’s THE SEAS ARE RISING, which is a song cycle that tells “stories of everyday people across the globe” dealing with the realities of the climate crisis, and Lîla Dance’s FAULT LINES, which “explores our environmental impact but asks what happens when we stand together with hope.” These three shows promise to be very different but lively and necessary explorations on this crucial subject matter.
For solo work, you can’t beat Flying Solo’s ELIZABETH I: IN HER OWN WORDS, featuring Tammy Meneghini as Elizabeth I. The piece immerses an audience in “the turbulent world if Queen Elizabeth I,” and I can say from having worked with her, and from having seen her perform in many works, that Tammy is an excellent actor who will do this show justice.
Finally, WaitDog’s PICASSO 2033, which explores the relationship between art and AI. The piece delves into the future of human creativity in an increasingly digitized/mechanized world, including an exploration of whether or not art still matters in times when “people are struggling to survive,” which I think will be of interest to a lot of people.
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