‘Dreamland’ Address Youth Eco-Anxiety through Art
Longtime YEPT Director Ana Rakita graduated from West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School in May of 2024 and is headed to college in California.
For teenage environmental activists, raising awareness of the climate crisis often involves giving formal speeches, marching with signs in hand, and drafting up official documents for local and state governments. And while all of that work is indeed essential, a group of students in Indianapolis have gone with a different approach. They are reaching the public through art.
For over two years, the REACT theatre group has been developing an original play called Dreamland that reflects the work of youth who are concerned about the climate. This past March, they started performing it for audiences. Dreamland follows a student named Logan who faces eco-anxiety (a chronic fear of disaster brought on by climate change). Driven into isolation and mental spirals, Logan meets a magical Guide that takes them on a journey in exploring their concerns. Emerging from their experiences as a balanced and motivated activist, Logan inspires their friends to get more involved in the cause.
Dreamland is a product of a devised theatre process, in which a group of participants create an original script based on extensive research and develop it with improvisation and movement activities; that same group performs the constructed piece. For the collaborating kids and adults at REACT, the research phase lasted about a year, after which the script went through ten revisions before it was ever seen by the public.
The cast of ‘Dreamland,’ performs at the Athenaeum in Indianapolis. Photo by Chris Reising.
During the devising stage, which cast member Georgia Stevens said was “kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks,” adult advisors were responsible for developing the script, but youth actors got a large amount of say in the matter; discussions were held in which they voted on and proposed ideas, and each improv or movement activity was a chance to give feedback on what was working and what wasn’t.
“What we do so beautifully at REACT is channeling the voices of youth so authentically…I could hear my own voice in [the play], and I could hear the voice of all my peers, and I think that is what’s so cool and special about this…that’s what really draws me to devising in general,” Stevens said. She has been involved with REACT for fourteen years and was part of this production’s original cast.
Following the rehearsal stage, Dreamland was finally ready to come out in full force; the first audience ended up being a school group of the ages similar to the cast members who are middle and high school performers. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many of the students present being able to relate to the characters and their individual conflicts. The team built on this successful start with more performances for the general public, and with each showing that initial reaction stayed consistent; many felt, as as REACT Artistic Director Georgeanna Smith Wade put it, “seen, heard, and called out.”
With a cast size of only five and relatively minimal set pieces and technical elements, Dreamland put much of its emphasis on the text that echoes sentiments of younger generations and the raw emotion infused into each character. This format is the specialty of the REACT group, who regularly devises productions by teens and for teens with relevant messages. “Usually, shows have a bunch of tech and a really large cast, but you don’t need that to spread a message,” said year-long cast member Maeby Garrigus.
Excluding the transcendent and all-knowing Guide, each teen character in the story is an “archetype” of a typical kind of viewpoint on today’s environment. For example, Regina Jones, who has been a REACT member for twelve years and was around when the very beginnings of Dreamland came about, described her character Avery as “the symbol of a person who can acknowledge the climate crisis but isn’t fully ready to release their privilege or do anything about it.” Other characters include Sammy, a laid-back persona who at first doesn’t seek to understand the depth of the climate crisis, and Quinn, a passionate but more surface-level kind of activist.
In many ways, bringing these characters to life and producing this entire play from scratch has had just as much of an impact on the participants as it has had on the viewers.
Cast members Georgia Stevens (left) and Regina Jones. Photo by Chris Reising.
“When I started doing Dreamland, I was very anxious about climate change, but because of that, I wasn’t really motivated to do anything,” Jones said. “Seeing Logan’s story, now I feel like there’s more hope in the future, and I feel more inspired and aware of the actions that I take and how they can help.”
To keep up with the ever-evolving story of Logan and their friends and other REACT works, or to get involved with the organization, visit their site.
Schools can book a performance of this show. Find out more. You can view Across Indiana’s story on ‘Dreamland’ here.
Editors note: React partnered with YEPT parent organization Earth Charter Indiana on this production. ECI staff provided research and access to experts in the field, including a climate scientist.
