Hitting the hiking trail and spending a night at the theater are two pastimes many people in the Pacific Northwest enjoy. But they don’t often do so simultaneously.
A new festival of short plays, called “Finding Trails,” aims to bring these disparate worlds together.
The event was created by Shana Bestock, the producing artistic director of a small community-based arts group, Penguin Productions. She was on her way back down from a spectacular hike in the Rocky Mountains last summer, when a realization hit. She had worked to fill lots of gaps in Seattle’s theater landscape. But there was still something missing.
“There is a body of work in the theater that deals with climate change, and much of it is apocalyptic,” she said.
As she scanned for other kinds of plays about the environment, she found nothing that reflected the joy or resilience or just the mundane details she often experiences outdoors. So she decided to commission new works.
“Because I think those are the things that are going to help us deal with the huge complexities of climate threats,” Bestock said.
"Finding Trails" includes four short plays that have been creatively adapted for Zoom, where they’ll be performed live with a Q&A following the show.
The festival takes place May 31 at 7 p.m. It will be recorded to watch later. Listen to the full story above, and learn more about the festival here.
