Acting out environmentalism

This semester, eight students are working side-by-side with Steven Cosson and Michael Friedman, this year’s PEI Barron Visiting Professors, to create a new play titled “The Great Immensity.” The piece will explore the future of the earth’s environment in light of ongoing processes such as a global warming, deforestation and extinction, among others. It will be performed on April 16 and 17 in Berlind Theatre.

The course, which meets every week on Mondays, is the brainchild of Cosson, a writer and director, and Friedman, a composer and lyricist, both of whom work for a theater company in New York called The Civilians. The company specializes in investigative theater, an avant-garde form of drama that explores issues of social, cultural and scientific importance. Their work has covered a broad spectrum of topics over the years, including epistemology in American culture, evangelical Christians in Colorado and even — in an upcoming project — the adult film industry in California, Friedman said.

“We start with a topic we’re interested in and try to learn as much about it as possible,” Friedman said of the play’s origin, adding that at the outset of a project, “it’s almost like journalism.”

In preparing to write “The Great Immensity,” Friedman and Cosson traveled to Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal and the small town of Churchill, Manitoba, to observe the effects of environmental change in both places. At these locations and others, they conducted interviews with a variety of individuals, ranging from botanists and psychologists to trappers and polar bear tour guides.

He added that the diverse interests of the students in the class have been instrumental in the play’s development. With a music major, an actor and several students interested in environmental studies in the class, “Every student has an individual role in the process,” he explained. “They can bring to us their whole base of knowledge.”

Andrea Grody ’11, a music major in the course, said that two assignments during the semester involved interviewing a friend without recording or taking notes and then reenacting the interview for the class. Both Grody and Friedman said the play that will be performed in April will not be a finished product and will continue to evolve.

Friedman noted that the current project began in 2007 when, as a Hodder Fellow, he mentioned his idea for “The Great Immensity” to creative writing professor Paul Muldoon, who is chair of the Lewis Center and director of Princeton Atelier. Muldoon then coordinated the course’s development across departments.

“We are motivated to try to make connections with the humanities and the environment,” said PEI Associate Director Katharine Hackett, who noted that the undertaking with Cosson and Friedman “fit the bill.”

“Through the arts, we have the ability to reach a whole segment of people,” she added.

Atelier, a series of courses initiated in 1994 by humanities professor emeritus Toni Morrison, brings guest artists to the University from a variety of fields, allowing them to develop and shape works of art for the professional world through the help and feedback of students.

Friedman said he hopes the play will challenge the audience’s preconceptions through its unique approach to its subject matter.

“It’s about how to take the information that you get and process it,” he said of the play.

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Each class, Friedman said, is “somewhere between a classroom setting and a rehearsal,” as he and Cosson present their work to the students before the students reciprocate.

“It’s nice when you’re teaching to feel like you’re challenging your students, but also to feel that they’re challenging you back,” he said.