OCEAN FILIBUSTER
Premiered February 2022 at the American Repertory Theater!
Ocean Filibuster is a genre-crashing music theater performance that uses the form of a government filibuster to explore the intimate, critical relationship between humans and the ocean.
When will the Ocean get fed up and not shut up until it’s heard?
Inside the Senate chamber of a future global governing body, Mr. Majority is introducing the “End of Ocean Bill,” designed to end the oceans by shrinking them down into a series of managed and manageable lagoons. When he opens the floor for debate, the ocean itself appears in human form to speak in its own defense. One actor portrays both Mr. M and The Ocean, playing out an epic battle of wits and wills, smarts and sass, facts and anthropocentric fiction. Using large-scale projection, songs, augmented reality technology, and a 6-person “ocean choir”, Ocean Filibuster brings us directly into the most heated debate of our time.
Made in collaboration with Jennifer Kidwell (performer), Sxip Shirey (music composition & sound design), Jian Jung, Jeff Becker, & Nate Lemoine (scenic), Andrew Lynch (sound design), Tal Yarden & Stivo Arnoczy (projection), Olivera Gajic (costume designer), Thomas Dunn (lightning), Lisa McGinn (stage management), Amanda Cooper (tour management), Carly Levine (production management), and Marina Zurkow & Rosane Chamecki (animation and motion graphics).
Commissioned by the American Repertory Theater with support from the Harvard University Center for the Environment.
Ocean FIlibuster is currently touring! Learn more about our tour on the Ocean Filibuster website.
OCEAN FILIBUSTER received support from: The New England Foundation For The Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; The Distracted Globe Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts; Wesleyan University; Alternate Roots; our Kickstarter donors.
OCEAN FILIBUSTER
Ocean Filibuster grew out conversations with Ocean Scientists at Harvard Center for the Environment. Some days it felt like they were begging us to make people listen and learn about ocean health. The ocean feeds us, processes our carbon, creates 50% of our our oxygen, helps regulate our temperate climate and much more– enabling us to carry on without ever really needing feel the impact of our actions. We made this piece so we could find out what the Ocean had to say about it.
Lisa and Katie with composer Sxip Shirey during a developmental residency at Ryder Farm.
