This project is the Los Angeles companion to the global event, Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA), a series of performances which take place every two years to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings on climate change. CCTA includes 50 writers from 20 countries, all of which are threatened by the changing environment with dire circumstances including land rendered uninhabitable by extreme heat, ocean level rise, inadequate drinking water, loss of habitat, and more. CCTA LA – At the Intersection adds to the global CCTA and takes on the environmental problems unique to Los Angeles. CCTA LA focuses on one important fact: climate change affects the lives of low-income people disproportionately. Frequently race plays a factor in terms of who is impacted by such climate change problems as poor air quality (especially for children and seniors), incompatible land use (including the lack of regulations which results in schools in low-income neighborhoods being built near freeways, or low-income housing being placed next to toxic industries), oil drilling and fracking in low-income neighborhoods, inadequate green space, plus the issues surrounding the LA River and the Port of Los Angeles.
CCTA LA – At the Intersection is written by a group of local writers representing diverse communities and is organized and produced by ITSC member and playwright/USC professor Paula Cizmar. As part of USC’s Visions and Voices, CCTA LA was performed free of charge for the public at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles on November 9th, 2019.