We Hear You—Greta Thunberg's Speeches | Danilo Bejarano, Mia Benson, Electra Hallman, Thomas Hanzon, Per Mattson, Ingela Olsson, Maria Salomaa, Tiril Wishman Eeg-Henriksen among others | Photo by Jacob Bengtsson
Stockholm+50 | Razmus Nyström and Melinda Kinnaman | Photo by Jens Olof Lasthein
We Hear You—A Climate Archive | Ashanee Kottage, Elliot Williams, Lilli Hokama, Myiah Smith, and Nadia Nazar | Photo by Wolf Hertzberg
Stockholm+50 | Photo by Jens Olof Lasthein
We Hear You—Greta Thunberg's Speeches | Danilo Bejarano, Mia Benson, Electra Hallman, Thomas Hanzon, Per Mattson, Ingela Olsson, Maria Salomaa, Tiril Wishman Eeg-Henriksen among others | Photo by Jacob Bengtsson
State of the Arts Night at the Hirshhorn Museum presented by the European Union | Abigail Devine, Ashanee Kottage, and Lyndi Tsering | Photo courtesy of the EU
Rehearsal for State of the Arts Night at the Hirshhorn Museum presented by the European Union | Abigail Devine, Ashanee Kottage, and Lyndi Tsering | Photo by Jati Lindsay
New York Times Climate Forward at COP27 | Caitlin Nasema Cassidy and Ashanee Kottage | Photo by Craig Gibson for the New York Times
New York Times Climate Forward at COP27 | Ashanee Kottage | Photo by Craig Gibson for the New York Times
We Hear You—A Climate Archive grows from the performance We Hear You—Greta Thunbergs Tal, originally presented at Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm on January 31, 2020. Staged by Jacob Hirdwall and Ada Berger, this performance drew on the texts of Greta’s speeches collected in No One Is Too Small To Make a Difference (Penguin, 2019).
We Hear You—A Climate Archive's performance series launched with an evening of climate storytelling on March 18, 2022 at the COAL + ICE exhibition presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Asia Society. An ensemble of DC-area youth artists and activists shared an original performance weaving their own experiences with the words of Greta Thunberg.
On June 1, 2022, We Hear You—A Climate Archive opened the “Sustainable Planet, Sustainable Health” conference hosted by Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Stockholm Environment Institute. Actors Melinda Kinnaman and Razmus Nyström performed a series of climate stories. The conference was part of Stockholm+50, an international meeting convened by the United Nations General Assembly in Stockholm, Sweden.
In November 2022, We Hear You—A Climate Archive partnered with the New York Times to perform a series of short stories, monologues, and prompts for reflection throughout the New York Times' Climate Forward program at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
We Hear You—A Climate Archive has also performed as part of the European Union’s State of the Arts Night at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, as well as at The House of Sweden and the SIREUS CHANCELLOR’S Forum.
MORE PROJECT EVENTS COMING SOON!
We Hear You—A Climate Archive is a collaboration between Dramaten (The Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden), The Earth Commons—Georgetown University’s Institute for Environment and Sustainability, The Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC, and The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. We Hear You—A Climate Archive is co-conceived by Caitlin Nasema Cassidy and Jacob Hirdwall. Additional support for this project is provided by the Swedish Arts Council and Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
The creative team for We Hear You—A Climate Archive includes Wijdan Al-Khateeb (Producer), Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (Project Director), Robert Duffley (Dramaturg), Jacob Hirdwall (Director and Playwright), Swedian Lie & Zero One Digital (Web Designers), and Afsoon Pajoufar (Stage Designer).
Wijdan Al Khateeb (she/her, Producer) is a Palestinian producer based in Doha, Qatar. She earned her BS in Media Industries and Technology at Northwestern University in Qatar and is currently pursuing a MA in Women, Society, and Development at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar. Her work and research focus on Palestinian women. As a producer, she has worked on The NU-Q Creative Media Festival, as well as award-winning films Tick Tock and Refuge, both of which premiered at Ajyal Film Festival. Wijdan served as Project Specialist for The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy/FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and as Creative Media Intern with Qatar Foundation. In addition to producing, she currently works for Qatar Foundation in the Community Development Department as Marketing Coordinator.
Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (she/her, Project Director) is an actor, director, and producer making experimental performance that is physical, collaborative, and poetic. Her practice is rooted in joy, embodied research, and (com)post-activism. Caitlin is a 2023 Grist 50 List Fixer, 2023 Social Impact Community Partner at the John F. Kennedy Center, and the recipient of a 2023 National Performance Network Development Fund Award. She holds the 2022-23 Artist-in-Residence position at The Earth Commons—Georgetown University’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability and is a proud member of The Actors Center. CaitlinNasemaCassidy.com
Robert Duffley (he/him, Project Dramaturg) is a dramaturg, editor, and teacher based in New York City. As a dramaturg, Robert partners with writers, directors, composers, collectives, and institutions to develop new plays and original stagings of classic work. He is particularly inspired by creative encounters between performance and other disciplines: recent collaborators include biologists, poets, climate activists, and archives. In addition to Robert's ongoing work with LubDub, his production credits include We Hear You—A Climate Archive (performances at the Royal Dramatic Theater of Sweden, Hirshhorn Museum, Kennedy Center, COP27, and Stockholm+50), Ferry Tales (Kennedy Center), 1776 (A.R.T., Broadway, National Tour), Claudia Rankine's Help (The Shed), Endlings (A.R.T./O'Neill), and We Live in Cairo (A.R.T.). Robert’s writing has been featured in publications including HowlRound, SixByEight Press, The Theater Times, and Contemporary Theatre Review. He has been a teacher/guest artist at Harvard University, Georgetown University, and Emerson College. robertduffley.com
Jacob Hirdwall (he/him, Director/Playwright) has for The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm staged Paralysie générale! (2004-17), Emperor Fukushima (2011), What Is Politics (2012), Another Country (2012), Requiem for an Activist (2012) and We Hear You—Greta Thunberg’s Speeches (2020). On behalf of Swedish Radio he has directed his own play Emperor Fukushima (2011), Kristian Lundberg's The Yard (2012) and Anita Goldman's If I Have To Travel To Los Alamos (2014). Jacob is the artistic director of Ensembleverket and has with that group staged There Is Someone Sitting On the Wing (2010) and the play The Undiscovered Country (2013, also performed in Reykjavik and in New York). He has written and directed the trilogy Landscape With Winter-birds (2015), Sleepwalking In The Nether World (2016, New York 2019) and People Who Disappear (The City Theatre of Stockholm, 2018). In 2019, Jacob made his debut as an author with the novel Picnic At The End Of the Road. Jacob was during 2017-2020 head of The Bergman Studio - a workplace for drama-development. Jacob's play Conversation With Strangers was performed at Athens Democracy Forum in 2022.
Afsoon Pajoufar (she/her, Project Designer) is an Iranian designer of stage and environment for play, opera, and live performance. Afsoon’s artistic practice is often focused on the intersection of space and new technologies including XR and live video. Her works have been presented in venues and festivals including Theatre for a New Audience, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), New Ohio Theatre, Bard Fisher Center, HARVARD TDM, MIT, KITCHEN THEATRE, and PRELUDE festival. She received her MFA in Scene design from Boston University and is a proud member of USA829. afsoonpajoufar.com
Swedian Lie (he/him, Project Designer) is a creative consultant and designer originally from and based in Indonesia. He is Co-Founder and Creative Director of Zero One Digital, a holistic branding and digital marketing agency focused on cohesive brand building & storytelling, and VP of Creative at Zero One Group, an integrated technology services company that provides personalized solutions to even the most challenging business problems. He has worked as a scenic designer with Rorschach Theatre, Georgetown University, and Jakarta Players, and as a graphic designer with LubDub Theatre Co., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Studio Theatre, among others. With nearly a decade of experience in branding, digital marketing, advertising, and theatre design, Swedian brings strategic knowledge and design expertise to projects requiring in-depth interdisciplinary practice and international collaboration.
Ashanee Kottage (she/her, Facilitator) is a research analyst at the Earth Commons and the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. She is inspired by her experience growing up in Sri Lanka, a beautiful tropical island, and embraces the responsibility to be a steward for homes, her's, and others, that bear severe and disproportionate consequences of climate change. She is a scientist, activist, and storyteller concerned about the security of this earth and the security of people. She is working towards decolonizing conservation, effective science communication, and marrying rigorous scientific research with empathy, embodiment, and performance.
Dramaten/The Royal Dramatic Theater Dramaten/The Royal Dramatic Theater is Sweden's national stage and the host of the International Ingmar Bergman Festival. The CEO is Maria Groop Russel. As of March 1, 2020, Mattias Andersson is the artistic director. dramaten.se/en
The Earth Commons—Georgetown University’s Institute for Environment and Sustainability is an internationally recognized home for innovative education, groundbreaking research and transformative action on the environment and sustainability at Georgetown University. earthcommons.georgetown.edu
The Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC is one of Sweden’s largest missions and serves as the official link between Sweden and the United States. The Embassy of Sweden is located in House of Sweden, a physical representation of Swedish values such as openness, transparency and democracy, and the flagship of Sweden’s public diplomacy in the United States. houseofsweden.com
The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics humanizes global politics through performance. We cultivate a distinctive global community of collaborators that includes students, emerging and established artists, educators, policy leaders, and activists. Our work harnesses narrative, memory, and acts of witnessing with the aim of sparking transformation and change. globallab.georgetown.edu
Ashanee Kottage
Myiah Smith
Lilli Hokama
Nadia Nazar
Kelly Perry
Abigail Devine
Elliot Williams
Julia Beu
Joseph Ravago
Jameson Nowlan
Lyndi Tsering
Dina Hirdwall
Razmus Nyström
Melinda Kinnaman
Kiyo Gutiérrez
Isuri Wijesundara
Jacob Hirdwall
Robert Duffley
Eliza Palter
Pauline Owiti
Beatrice Ann Dolores
Julia Beu
Caitlin Nasema Cassidy
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Asia Society
Stockholm University
Karolinska Institutet
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm Environment Institute
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
New York Theater Salon
Global Forms Festival
Georgetown Humanities Initiative
Center for Law and Social Policy / New Deal For Youth
COAL + ICE
The New York Times Climate Forward
SIREUS
The Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University Office of the Vice President for Global Engagement
The Hirshhorn Museum
The European Union
Asif Majid
Jennifer Peacock
Miranda Rose Hall
Devika Ranjan
Abigail Devine
Joan Cassidy
Center for Native American Youth