Performance for Resilience

Beth Osnes is an Associate Professor of Theater and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado. She mixes both disciplines to engage young people on environmental issues. She has a new book Performance for Resilience: Engaging Youth on Energy and Climate Through Music, Movement, and Theatre, which focuses on her the theater production Shine, which toured around the world.

Osnes says she is a merging of an academic and an activist, and used her background of theater and environmental studies for a theater production that seeks to engage communities on issues like climate change.

“I put it all into this show and I thought you know what, youth are the way to go. They have the energy, they have the joy and they have the ability to engage their parents and adults in a way that nobody else can. And I also believe in the power of performance. I believe that performance can give us this place where we can practice, we can try out new ideas without risk of damage, without having put in any actual resources yet. So I thought, let’s create a show.”

The result is Shine, which is an opportunity for youth to come together to explore the story of climate that they have inherited and also to start to author a new future for the climate and the future and the resilience challenges they want to meet.”

Shine toured around the world and visited London, Chicago, New York, New Orleans, South Africa.  “It was really to learn from each different community how to best engage youth through performance for resilience planning for each city. ”

Beth Osnes will speak about  her new book, Performance for Resilience: Engaging Youth on Energy and Climate Through Music, Movement, and Theatre, on Thursday January 25th at 7.30pm at the Boulder Bookstore.

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