The Sun’ll Be Hotter Tomorrow: Growing Up with Climate Chaos

Abstract

The following reviews take on The Great Immensity, which was performed in its current form at the Public Theater in New York during April 2014. The Great Immensity was written by Steven Cosson and Michael Friedman, key figures in the Civilians, a Brooklynbased company that engages in “investigative theater,” wedding scientific and historical research with live performance. Though some of the critics call it a “climate change musical,” the Civilians call it a “theatrical play” and “media project” on its home page (thegreatimmensity.org). The question of form arises in these reviews because the ubiquity of social media and the severity of the climate crisis put pressure on traditional theater in a manner The Great Immensity seeks to engage. It may be useful to view The Great Immensity as an incunabulum, a work that stands at the beginning of ecotheater’s attempts to dramatize climate change. The Civilians themselves recognize this play as the start of a longer commitment. Cosson and Friedman have founded the Next Forever Initiative to bring together scientists and artists to communicate biospheric realities to a popular audience through new works of art. As they describe it, “The Initiative cultivates new plays, films, video and audio series, and more that deepen our understanding of vital environmental topics. The Initiative will bring our country’s most ingenious artists together with the world’s brightest scientific minds to create thoughtprovoking and entertaining new work that focuses on conservation, energy, climate, land use, agriculture, the environmental