“I’m a wimp.” So responded one audience member at “Save the Earth – Save Ourselves”, the Mandala Center’s theatre event on what gets in the way of our taking action around global warming. Joker/Facilitator, Marc Weinblatt had just asked the young man why he has not resumed riding his bike, long after healing from an injury. The tone of the evening certainly included this shame of not doing more but also much hope. 40 people, from youth to elders and mostly people at least somewhat if not highly educated on the issues, attended this interactive performance by the Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble – the Mandala Center’s multi-generational (currently ages 15-80) troupe who use a combination of T.O. and Playback Theatre to generate dialogue on burning social issues in the community. Though 40 people is not a large house, it was very respectable in this small town of 8500 – especially considering there had been an all-day event (the “Awakening the Dreamer – Changing the Dream” symposium) on similar issues the day before.

In this performance, we used Image Theatre and several Playback structures to draw material from the audience, then Cops-in-the-Head and Forum to brainstorm ways to work through and explore ways towards more effective action. The main themes voted on by the audience for “Cops” were: To ride or not to ride (a bike), To take or not to take (the bus), To fly or not to fly (a plane), To be or not to be (an activist.) The audience chose the latter with the initial scene presenting a person who deletes an e-mail requesting she call her senators to support a bill around global warming. The audience wanted her (themselves) to make the call. Cops voices included: “You don’t have the time.” “It won’t make any difference.” “You’ll end up on their (the FBI’s) list!” And most overwhelming, “It’s too late; we’re already over the cliff.” The Forum, which followed, provided many ideas to help disarm these obstacles to action. The audience left with renewed energy and a deeper sense that they are not alone in the struggle (isolation - another disabling voice.) Afterwards, several audience members said, separately, that they got more out of this 2-hour performance than the entire previous day’s symposium. But perhaps the most poignant moment of the evening was at the beginning when it was mentioned that nearly 50 similar theatre-based events were happening across the globe that day and that only TWO were in the United States – the world’s greatest contributor to global warming. The deep silence in the room spoke a thousand words.

This event was sponsored by Climate Action Outreach and Local 20/20. Special Thanks to Headlines Theatre, in Vancouver, Canada for organizing the Jokers' International Day of Action.