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"Show Me" THE WAY OF WATER at University of Missouri

On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, the Missouri Playwrights Workshop hosted a reading of Caridad Svich's THE WAY OF THE WATER.  The workshop is very informal, a playwright's salon, if you will, and we bring a general sense of openness and interest in craft which is a bit outside the typical audience experience.  And of course, they're Missourians, or mostly Missourians, so there is always that attitude of "show me" to any work presented at the workshop.  Meaning, you've got to "show them" why they should care about what it is you're trying to say.  We are the "show me" state, after all—and we're just this side of cranky about our drama.
 
The group was mostly Mizzou undergrads, with a few local writers, and a graduate student or two.    It was more packed than usual, as we have had Caridad as a guest artist in the past, and they love her, and her magic, and really respect her writing.
 
I think it's safe to say, that Caridad "showed them" - that is, she opened their eyes to the depth of misery that the folks around the Gulf have experienced Post-BP-Oil-Spill: the sickness, the betrayal, the frustration with their government officials and their own ability to change what has happened.  And in our post-play discussion, to basically wrestle with the issues that Caridad raises so eloquently in her play—we all struggled with the kind of paralysis that seems to have happened since the Oil Spill and since Katrina.  Since we're just up the Mississippi a bit from all these events, the students know folks down on the Gulf, have family there, and the awful pain and suffering experienced by Jimmy, Rosalie, Yuki, and Neva was very close to home.
 
Like the Missourians we are, we wrestled with the dramaturgy of the play, discussed what we felt worked, and what didn't work—hey, we're a cranky bunch of scribblers, ya know—but at the same time, the students were furiously googling all the different sicknesses that have lingered since the Oil Spill, the horrifying effects of Corexit, the lack of protective gear for those who cleaned up the spill, the ghoulish quality of PAH or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons---aspects that Caridad hauntingly recreated with her magic—the vomiting of fish, the orchids of paper and pipe cleaners, the notion that, like the survivors of the Bikini Island nuclear tests, there would be no return to paradise for the good fishing folk of the Gulf of Mexico.
 
In the end, we were all grateful to have had taken this moment with THE WAY OF THE WATER with Caridad, nearly two years out from the original explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, as this issue will linger for many years, and there are protesters still there—though too few—whose protests still need to be heard.  We need to Occupy these problems; we need to embrace this pain.  Even as BP and all those smiling happy commercials tells us all it's okay to come back to the Gulf, and swim, and eat what's there—it's important that my students had the opportunity to hear a different voice, and a voice that is as passionate and lyric as Caridad's to remind us that there is still many years of work to be done to rectify the terrible poisoning of the Gulf of Mexico, after the disaster of the BP Oil Spill.
 
Dr. David A. Crespy, Associate Professor of Playwriting
Director, Undergraduate Studies
Artistic Director, Missouri Playwrights Workshop
Co-Director, MU Writing for Performance Program
Resident Playwright, First Run Theatre Company,
St. Louis Missouri Field Representative, Dramatist Guild, Inc
 
THE WAY OF WATER by Caridad Svich was read at the Missouri Playwrights Workshop at the University of Missouri Department of Theatre on April 10th, at 7pm. Dr. David A. Crespy, Artistic Director

Man's Extremity is live Theatre's Opportunity

 

By Jason Chimonides, professor of drama at Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Last night, I had the illuminating pleasure to read, with a very talented cast of student actors, Caridad Svich’s The Way of Water for a large audience of freshman Honors College students. The audience and actors entered instantly into an easy and engaging rapport with the play. The colorful exuberance of the characters, their distinctive locality and the specificity of their lives and worldview jumped off the stage and there was a strong identification with and affection for all of the characters: their struggles, their yearnings and the incremental and devastating discovery of their almost post-apocalyptic situation.

To me, as the director of the reading, I discovered that it is quite the hallucination to think that the people of the Gulf are somehow distinct from the Gulf itself.  I was raised in Tallahassee, FL, 45 miles from this calm and mystical water and I know first -hand that they are a unitary system.  Like bees and flowers. This basic interdependence, though the most painfully obvious fact, is somehow the most elusive thing to FEEL.  Not just to understand intellectually, but to experience.  In the way one experiences the BLUE in SKY.  And the rupture that this ecological homeostasis underwent as a result of the spill and its attendant miseries is yet another reminder that technological man, “Homo Colossus”, has, in many ways reached a dead end - and is in very grave danger of choking on its own pollutants.

In fact, as the play, (and history), make clear, it already is.

And the social and spiritual effects, the total ecological cost, evoke a tremendous compassion in me. What a snarl we all have to untangle. But, as this project evokes – there is an unyielding capacity and yearning in the human being (perhaps because we ARE 70 percent water), to move our world into greater accord with The Way of Water, which to me is a metaphor for the Ancient Chinese concept of The Tao: the mysterious, spontaneous intelligence of nature and its eternal capacity to rebalance itself. The universe, as the late philosopher Alan Watts once said, “always bounces.”

In the discussion that followed the reading, I was struck, as I frequently am, by the millennial generation’s capacity to see clearly. They are a generation who grew up online.  Their consciousnesses have been intensely shaped by a cataract of cosmically fragmented information.  Bits and bits and bits and bits and bits…

And projects like The Way of Water provide them with an opportunity to touch the earth again.  To return to the ground of their being and to paradoxically, see straight through the delusion of the media cycle, the BP propaganda, “Drill baby drill” and the tenacity of the Cultural Ego to want to beat nature into submission.  They get the message. Instantly. And in almost every case I’ve witnessed, intelligent, reflective young people find this re-membering incredibly refreshing.

Like a strong, exhilarating cup of espresso.

Still, to be perfectly honest, there is also a strong whiff of fatalism in their psyches, of an innate and protective disassociation, and I felt this in the comments of the students: “yes,” they seem to say, “This is incredibly messed up. DUH! On to the next viral tragedy…”

Consciousness is so fragmented.  And so is compassion.

They live a paradox.  Since the internet has given them a visceral understanding of interdependence, though they understand human costs, their empathy is weakened by innumerable exposures to colossal, global disruption.  Remember, these students were in third grade on September 11th, 2001.

They understandably feel overwhelmed.  They grew up saturated with symbolic depictions of large scale human folly – and are, as a result, perhaps, profoundly, overwhelmed by voluminous DATA.  The sheer scale of the symbolic world in which they are immersed is exhausting in the stimulation it confers and many feel, because of their close dance with technology, social media, etc. increasingly depersonalized because of it - under surveillance, bombarded, disillusioned, etc.

That’s where the power of The Way of Water comes in.

Man’s extremity is live theater’s opportunity. An immediate and precise chamber piece on the stage, like this one – about human beings  - which points directly to an ultimate interdependence, is, I believe,  like the flow of water over rocks.  Deep and immediate.   And it smoothes and shapes and hone us, one at a time.

Thanks for the opportunity to share in this project.

Jason Chimonides
Assistant Professor, IUP Dept. of Theater and Dance

The Way of Water by Caridad Svich was read at Indiana University of Pennsylvania on April 10th, 2012 at 7pm, sponsored by the IUP Honors College. 

"We have long believed that theatre is one of the most powerful tools for inciting a communal dialogue about the world we live in, the impact contemporary issues have on our health, and the long lasting repercussions our decisions and actions have on our environment and our evolution as a society. The Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill not only affected those in direct contact with the disaster, but it had national and international repercussions.
 
Partnering with US Latina playwright Caridad Svich means that the dialogue erases borders and unites us on an international level to talk about the things that matter most. As one of Canada's only Latin American theatre companies dedicated to developing and producing the work of Latin American artists, we feel it fitting to expand our support and create alliances with Latino artists abroad."
 
THE WAY OF WATER by Caridad Svich will be read at Almeda Theatre on Sunday, April 29th, 2012, 2:30pm at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. The free reading will be directed by Marilo Nunez, featuring: Karl Ang, Michelle Arvizu, Andrew Moodie, and Cherissa Richards.
 

 

The Way of Water at Vortex Theatre!

by Valli Marie Rivera, Director

The reading was well received!  The audience congratulated the good acting and the staging. The audience about of 35 in our 75-seat theatre was engaged during and after the reading enthusiastic in talk back. The reaction in talk back was quite passionate and serious: about what's happening now in the Gulf, about not having a decent health insurance plan for the people who can't pay, about the cover-up with Corexit and how this can effect future marine life and create more health issues to the community.  About what the government is doing.  About what we can all do to make a difference with our environment. About who are you as a playwright and activist. About the multi-reading and participating venues. The audience agreed this was a great idea to create awareness and the keep the conversation going.  I invited the audience to go to NoPassport blog to continue conversation how the reading affected them or just express what's on their mind about the BP spill and it's consequences to the people and the environment.

Yes the audience did get into play. I think they mostly were engaged to Yuki and Jimmy's relationship which read by my actors was strong and very real. The four friends scenes have a diverse pacing with clarity on the goals of each character.  Jimmy and Rosalie's last scene is sad and hard but hopeful and nostalgic, which provoked the audience's hearts to melt. An audience member with her husband and two teenage girls, came up to me and could hardly speak because she was choking with emotion. A senior lady was asking so many questions about the region environment's devastation, what's up with the dolphins, the birds?  This created a lot of reactions of what is each one of us doing here and now to save our environment .  Like I said the audience became passionate and vocal. 
 
I staged the play with a prop net and characters caught in it. A most engaging metaphor for the audience as they entered.
 
In all, the story with it's upbeat dialogue, underscored with bits of song and rhythm of the Gulf culture, presented us with real colorful characters dealing with devastating life issues and hanging on to hope and faith. A winner to me! 
 
It has been a journey for all of us. A real awakening for sure with the question in our minds: "what are you going to do about it?"
 
Thank you so much for inspiring us all again with your stories and questions provoked by them!

The Way of Water by Caridad Svich was read at Vortex Theatre in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 7th, 2012 at 2pm.

Beyond the Horizon Festival at UMASS Amherst

 

by Megan McClain, dramaturg

On April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon off-shore drilling unit exploded, killing 11 people. For the next three months nearly 5 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, negatively impacting plant, animal, and human life.  The full extent of the catastrophe’s aftermath is still unknown.  Though the news media’s coverage of the spill has dissipated in the ensuing years, artists and activists continue to give voice to the lasting devastation of this event.  Addressing the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its position in a long line of environmental disasters, the Beyond the Horizon Festival presented by the UMass Amherst Theatre Department seeks to use performance to map our changing relationship to the natural world and offer models of community response to ecological crisis.   Developed by a interdisciplinary community of theatre artists, musicians, dancers, and environmentalists, the Beyond the Horizon Festival offers three original devised theatre pieces that use the power of performance to illuminate the interactions between humans and the environment. 

            The first piece, What Have We Learned, uses letters, dance, and song to explore how the BP Gulf oil spill has effected the lives of those in the Gulf and beyond.  To whom it may concern addresses how we struggle to communicate during times of crisis in a world pulsing with the din of suffering, disconnection, and corruption.  The final piece, Nightingale, imagines a post-apocalyptic society in which natural organisms are strictly controlled and shows what happens when one bird throws the whole system into shock. 

            Members of the Beyond the Horizon artistic team are also participating in a reading of Caridad Svich’s new play, The Way of Water, presented in collaboration with NoPassport Theatre alliance and press as part of a nationwide and international reading scheme.  The Way of Water interrogates the BP Gulf oil spill by exposing the continued negative effects of the disaster on the health and livelihoods of those in the region.  This network of readings across the country joins theatre artists in a larger conversation about the hidden and ignored human suffering of those exposed to contaminated water in the Gulf.

            Silent Spring author Rachel Carson once wrote, “In nature, nothing exists alone.” The same can be said of theatre.  Though theatre has been described as the site for exploring the human condition, that human condition is intrinsically linked to the conditions of all other life on this planet.  Theatre gives us a space to play out sites of connection and disconnection. It creates a place to reassess our destructive actions and celebrate the most beautiful wonders of the world around us.  Above all, it offers the chance to rediscover and announce what poet Mary Oliver calls our “place in the family of things.”

            The Beyond the Horizon Festival runs April 5-7 and April 10-14 at 8pm and April 14 at 2pm in the Curtain Theatre of the Fine Arts Center on the UMass Amherst campus.  The reading of Caridad Svich’s new play, The Way of Water, will be held at 4:30pm on April 10th at Food for Thought Books, 106 N. Pleasant St. Amherst, MA. For more information visit www.beyondthehorizonfestival.wordpress.com

Academic Theme Launched on World Water Day

Two of the participating institutions: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UMASS Amherst have used THE WAY OF WATER to respond to their school's mandates to initiate campus-wide discussions about water.  Take a moment to check out these articles published by UNC's University Gazette and The Valley Advocate: 

ACADEMIC THEME LAUNCHED ON WORLD WATER DAY. 27 March 2012

"The things that are wrong with water today are pretty big, and the pressures on water are huge. But it is within the grasp of human kind to use it as a tool for good," said Jamie Bartram, professor of environmental sciences and engineering at the Gillings School of Global Public Health and director of The Water Institute at UNC.

CITIZEN ARTISTS: A FESTIVAL OF DEVISED WORK RESPONDS TO ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER. 5 April 2012. 

The UMASS Theater Department has risen to the deans' challenge by creating three original works that "map and explore our changing relationship to the natural world and offer models of community response to ecological crisis."  Beyond the Horizen  is an exercise in "devised theater," explains dramaturgy grad student Megan McClain, the project's curator. The pieces were co-created by the participants---two dozen students from three of the Five Colleges---using research, found texts and their own words and ideas. This approach, says McClain, mirrors and extends the notion of interconnectedness in the campus wide theme.

We also appreciate Carnegie Mellon dramaturgy student Emily Anne Gibson initiated an article on TheatreManiaU

"All in all, this is a project I feel strongly about being involved in. I have a lot of beliefs about theater, but one of them is that it should provide a social commentary. And this most certainly does. I also think theater should create a conversation. And I believe that The Way of Water  will do just that. And I know, first hand, that theater must be communal---this reading series is a wonderful embodiment of that community, and when the play receives its world premiere, I believe that it will create a community out if its audience that can talk, argue, collaborate, and come to new understandings."

Dear Actors, Directors and The Way of Water participants:

In my conversations with Cindy Cooper, Managing Editor for On the Issues Magazine, she directed me to the research efforts of Jacqui Patterson. As you will see from her article below, women have been disproportantly affected by the BP Oil Spill. If you are playing the roles of Rosalie and Neva, we hope you find her article particularly moving.---Heather Helinsky, dramaturg

Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster: Gendered Layers of Impact 
by Jacqui Patterson

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Drilling Disaster of April 20, 2010 (the “BP Oil Spill”) is, as the news sometimes tells us, causing grave damage to the waterways and shores, marshlands and bayous of the Gulf of Mexico. Far more hidden is the devastation wrought on the women in scores of coastal communities.

My research and investigations in the Gulf region indicate that while all were affected, the women of the coast experienced differential impacts and unique issues during the disaster and in its aftermath. In this regard, the Gulf disaster fits in with the experiences of disasters worldwide, in which, across the board, women are disproportionately affected.

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon incident, women’s experiences were different from men in four main areas: 1) Care-taking and health; 2) Economic health; 3) Abuse in the home 4) Family stability.  In many ways, women were required to take on new family responsibilities in the wake of the Gulf disaster. From a gender perspective, these are many lessons to bring forward.

Challenged with Family Health and Welfare

In the aftermath of the disaster, people reported many health concerns: respiratory issues, digestive problems, skin reactions and other conditions. With these new health issues on the rise, women’s care-taking experienced a corresponding increase. As is typical in many families, women in the Gulf took on the role of caregiver when husbands, children or other family members became sick.

Furthermore, women faced risk to their own health, especially because of differential effects on reproductive health, as is frequently true in situations of environmental exposure. Veteran toxicologist Dr. William Sawyer, in his analysis of the risks resulting from toxic exposures arising from the Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster, pointed to Toluene and aromatic hydrocarbons as risks for women because they are known to cause spontaneous abortions and severe birth defects in humans and other mammals.

Mental health issues increased, and women reported having to be the pillars of stability and leadership in the family so that members could continue to function.

In addition, women became the spokespersons for families that needed to share their stories and advocate for justice. Recovery workers – most of those who were hired were male -- had to sign contracts saying that they wouldn’t “speak out” about their experiences as part of clean-up crews or other parts of the recovery, leaving the women to carry community voices.

Reliance on public assistance increased significantly in the region due to the disaster.  Women were left responsible for accessing public assistance -- whether it’s because women are viewed as being in charge of household matters, or because of gender based “pride” differentials.  As Mary McCall of Coden, Alabama, shared with me, “And then I’m trying to help fishermen without jobs. I would get in line to get groceries, but them -- being men -- they didn’t want to do that. They didn’t want to say ‘I’m going to stand in line for them to give me groceries’; I did it for (the men).”

Economic Access and Opportunities Shunted

Women’s access to economic opportunities was limited and their experiences in the workplace were compromised because of the Deepwater Horizon incident. The gender of workers in the affected region influenced the degree of economic devastation, the ability to find new work, the percentage of compensation for loss of work in the claims process and experiences in the recovery process.

Jobs that women occupied before the disaster were more vulnerable to being obliterated. Oyster shuckers, crab pickers and chambermaids who I interviewed in my investigations were predominantly women, and they lost their employment. Some boat owners were able to gain revenue from being a part of the “Vessels of Opportunity” program that utilized boats in the clean up, and hotels continued to operate even when occupancy was low. But, employees on the lower rungs of the employment ladder – especially women -- suffered the greatest impact to their earning ability.

Many of the recovery jobs involved manual labor, and women were excluded from these opportunities. At one worksite, managers reported that out of the 300 workers, only 10 were women. Women reported being trained and then not being hired when mass recruitment of crews took place. Several women reported their concerns and were only hired after the NAACP called contractors expressing concern for discriminatory hiring practices. Clearly, the Department of Labor needs to increase oversight in ensuring that contractors do not discriminate based on gender.

In addition, many women reported numerous accounts of workplace sexual harassment by both co-workers and supervisors on various clean- up operation sites.  Contractors must adopt zero-tolerance policies on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Women were also under-represented in the contracts awarded in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Incident. An analysis of BP Supplier/Contractor Diversity data shows that a total of $181.4 million in small business contracts was awarded; women-owned businesses received only $4.9 million in contracts, less than three percent of the total.  In the future, agencies offering contracts must be intentional about outreach to women owned-businesses.

Please read Jacqui Patterson's article further by clicking on this link to On the Issues Magazine! There's more!

Play Performance to Benefit Occupy Ashland

by Andy Seles & Joanna Goff

An explosion on April 20, 2010 aboard the Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig working on a well for BP one mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental oil spill in history. Residents who live along the coast, all the way from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana to western Florida continue to suffer acute symptons attributed to ongoing exposure to toxic chemicals being released from BP's crude oil and the toxic Corexit dispersants used to sink the oil. Thousands of deaths along the Gulf Coast region have been linked to this toxic damage. This devastation is deemed by many in the health and science field as the equivalent of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

In her recent essay Towards a Visible Theatre, playwright Caridad Svich wrote, "Theatre is a public forum. Writing for the theatre and live performance thus demands engagement with the world. To write a play is a civic act, or at the very least the articulation of a desire to take part in a civic dialogue with society. Broad questions of identity and human rights enter very much into the frame of a play's vision." Her newest play, The Way of Water, will be given a free staged reading at Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall on Monday, April 9 at 7pm. All donations at the door will benefit OCCUPY ASHLAND. The Way of Water deals with the aftermath of the BP oil spill; the play was released to groups around the globe to commemorate the disaster by humanizing the people and their suffering. In the play, two Louisiana gulf fisherman and their wives struggle with humor and grace for survival as their health, vitality, and livelihood have been severely disrupted by the toxic environment.

Joanna Goff, a teacher/actor/director, has assembled a cast that includes Trevor Mather, Fiona Fire, Thomas Letchworth and Jazmin Roque. Letchworth, who plays the role of the fisherman Yuki, recently stated, "The arts and the artistic process offer themselves up as tremendously powerful tools for social change. Through art people gain inspiration, hone creativity and develop passion, all of which are invaluable assets to the would-be activist. Art and creativity have the ability to cut through the barriers of race, class and location in a way that no other mechanism can. In this way the pen, paintbrush and body are truly mightier than the sword."

Eddie Lee, who was originially cast as fisherman Jimmy Robichaux, writes: "So why protest and activate socially? I believe this play demonstrates our attention to the world around us, and begin extending our support to one another. The Way of Water is populated by rich characters that help tap us into our humanity, and then invites us to walk in the shoes of those who face life in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico BP oil tragedy. This art, the Art of Theatre---among the many forms of creative expression---enables the greatest movement that any one can make: to move mind and heart, so as to build the most important thing that anyone could possibly create. Community. It is time we recognize the Arts for the power and value that they really are."

Fiona Fire, who plays Rosalie, explains her involvement: "For me playing Rosalie is a joyful burden. She has shown me my own anger and sadness with fresh clarity. Sharing this story allows us to embark on a very real grieving process. Any illusions we may hold that the spill happened "over there" or "to them" are quickly dispelled in the face of such honest storytelling. The destruction of the spill is felt by all, and it is our sacred duty to tell the truth, grieve, and heal together."

Caridad Svich is a US Latina playwright, translator, lyricist and editor. She received the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize for her play The House of the Spirits, based on the novel by Isabelle Allende. Her works have been presented across the US and abroad at diverse venues, including Denver Center Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertorio Espanol, 59East59, McCarren Park Pool, 7 Stages, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, Teatro Mori (Santiago, Chile), ARTheatre (Cologne), and Edinburg Fringe Festival/UK. Svich states, "Making a play is in and of itself a fragile game that involvesthe particular relationship between and among collaborators...a tough and tender affair that demands courage, a strong sense of humor and a great deal of commitment...a writer writes becase....Writers write because...a writer Rights."

Save the date for an evening of empowering theatre. April 9 at 7pm. Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 87 4th Street. For more information contact Andy Seles at andyseles@gmail.com or 541-727-2677.

The Problem Continues...

"No one on the platform was injured, the company said, and there appeared to be no immediate danger to anyone on shore. But the volume of gas escaping from the well threatened to make the air poisonous and potentially explosive over a wide area around the platform, and posed a danger of significant environmental harm."

"The Gas Leak on Offshore Platform Forces Evacuation in North Sea." New York Times, 27 March 2012. Reported by Julia Werdigier and Henry Fountain.

 

 

"Total said two firefighting ships are on standby near the platform, about 150 miles east of Aberdeen, and others may be mobilised soon. Hainsworth said the company was "evaluating options" on how to put out the flare and how to stem the leak.

He said international well control experts have flown to Scotland to advise the company on the best course of action. Options include drilling a relief well and sending experts on to the Elgin to kill the leak from the platform. The company said it may take up to six months to drill an emergency relief well."

"Flare still burning on North Sea gas leak platform." The Guardian.  27 March 2012. Reported by Rubert Neate.

 

 

"Unlike the oil spilled from BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the Total leak is primarily natural gas that dissipates in the air, especially in the usually windy conditions of the North Sea. But the gas in the well is known as sour gas because it contains toxic, flammable hydrogen sulfide as well as gas liquids that have created small surface sheens. Drilling a relief well, one possible solution, would be difficult because any rig would have to keep its distance from the gas leak. “This is another instance in which we see that the oil companies are not prepared for the worst-case scenarios,” said Frederic Hauge, president of the Bellona Foundation,a Norwegian environmental group. The uncontrolled leak takes place amid controversy over how Britain should manage its aging offshore oil and gas fields. Just a week ago, British Chancellor George Osborne proposed about $4.8 billion in tax breaks to help oil companies dismantle old platforms and drill new wells. “Gas is cheap, has much less carbon than coal and will be the largest single source of our electricity in the coming years,” he said in his budget statement on March 21. He said the energy secretary would “set out our new gas generation strategy” in the fall."

"Total gas leak forces evacuations in British North Sea." The Washington Post. 27 March 2012. Reported by Steven Mufson. 

Southern Oral History Program (re-post)

This is information for anyone interested in continuing to read up in preparation for Caridad Svich's play THE WAY OF WATER.

Click here for a link to videos created by Andy Horowitz for the Southern Oral History Program in July 2010: http://oilspillstories.tumblr.com/

Click here for more information about the Southern Oral History Program:  http://www.sohp.org/content/news/news-item/documenting_the_gulf_oil_spill/

The Southern Oral History Program

in the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina conducted a small series of interviews to begin the work of documenting the human effects of the BP oil spill, perhaps the worst environmental disaster in American history.

 

About the Project

The interviews, completed while oil was still flooding into the Gulf of Mexico from the ruptured deepwater well, reveal the worry, hope, confusion, and commitment of Louisiana coastal residents during a time of deep uncertainty and peril. The interviews allowed coastal residents to put their current predicament in historical context: they described lives and livelihoods connected – often for generations – to the coast and to the water. 

The interviewees talked about their evolving understanding of government, regulation, and industry, about the coexistence of oil and fishing industries, and about the importance of work, family, and place. They compared the oil spill to earlier challenges – like hurricanes – and described how this time seemed different, more daunting, less certain, and more out of control. They expressed frustration with so much of what was happening, and at the same time, confidence in the perseverance and intelligence of local people to get through this crisis.

From the hours of interviews – which soon will be archived at the Southern Historical Collection and made available as audio and written transcripts online  – we have highlighted a few very short sections here. Sound bites run counter to the strengths and goals of oral history, though, and we encourage you to read or listen to the interviews in their entirety. These clips are meant to offer a way in.

For nearly forty years, Southern Oral History Program has been recording the recollections and reflections of southerners. Our 4,500 oral history interviews include conversations with millworkers and farmers, activists and political operators, and many others who witnessed southern history as it happened. Visit us at sohp.org.

The Southern Oral History Program collaborated with the Louisiana State Museum to produce these interviews.

Andy Horowitz conducted the interviews for this series. Andy first came to the Southern Oral History Program as a college intern in 2002, and later returned to direct the SOHP’s post-Katrina project, “Imagining New Orleans,” in 2006. From 2003 to 2007, he was the founding director of the New Haven Oral History Project at Yale University, where he also taught courses on oral history and urban studies. He is currently History PhD student at Yale.

 

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