CHIMACUM— The Mandala Center for Change will present “Our Suffering Earth,” an interactive performance and community dialogue at 4 p.m. Friday.
The Poetic Justice Theater Ensemble’s performance dealing with climate change and cultural “dis-ease” will be at Finnriver Farm & Cidery at 124 Center Road, Chimacum.
The all-ages event will be free, although donations will be welcomed.
On Friday, a youth-led Global Strike for Future will take place with actions, community dialogue and arts events around the world, according to Marc Weinblatt of the Mandala Center for Change, based at Fort Worden.
Greta Thunberg, initiator of Fridays For the Future (www.fridaysfor future.org) and instigator of the strike invites people of all ages to participate and protest peacefully to raise awareness and demand action from government officials.
Along with the event in Chimacum, a climate change rally is planned at Port Townsend High School, 1500 Van Ness St., initiated by Zinnia Hansen and Hannah Bahls, both members of the Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble.
Students will gather at 11:35 a.m. at the flagpole and chant as they walk to a fenced field on Benton Street. The event will finish at 12:05 p.m.
Community members are encouraged to stand with students during the rally along the sidewalk on Benton Street just outside the fence.
“We will join millions of other students and young people around the world demanding immediate action on climate change. We want to find specific, practical ways to transform ourselves and our local community,” Bahls said.
The #FridaysForFuture movement began in August 2018 after Thunberg, then 15, sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for three weeks, to protest against a lack of action on climate change.
She decided to continue striking every Friday until the Swedish policies changed.
On this upcoming Friday, the Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble will offer in Chimacum “a way to connect to the land, to each other, and to the greater call to action,” Weinblatt said.
The community event will welcome personal stories and visions for the future, he said.
As interpreted by the Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble, audience stories, struggles, and ideas will be brought to life through physical imagery and improvisation.
“Every voice is welcome, every story honored. Though climate change and cultural dis-ease can be intellectual topics Playback Theatre invites our personal and heart-centered responses,” Weinblatt said in the press release.
Said Zhaleh Almaee, ensemble member and local activist: “Talking about challenges, even grief, in a community setting, is a courageous thing to do. Feeling more connected and seen in our struggles can support us to transform our fears and heartache so it can lead us to action instead of keeping us in a state of total overwhelm.”
Said Weinblatt: As Laurence Cole, local elder, song leader, and earth steward sings, ‘You want to get up to the joy, you got to go down deep. So go down, go down, go down. The illness seeks the medicine, so go down. We can do this. We will rise.’ ”
A program of the Mandala Center for Change, the Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble is now in its 18th season.
It is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational — teens to elders — troupe of local actor/activists who use interactive theatre as a tool for awareness and social change.
For more details, call 360-344-3435, email info@mandalaforchange.com or see www.mandalafor change.com.
