How does one tackle an anxiety-inducing, over-saturated and apocalyptic issue like climate change with wit, heart and a commitment to action? The answer for the team behind “Look, Dream, Begin” — the 28th-Annual First-Year Show performed at the Hepburn Zoo this past weekend — was a bold, theatrical extravaganza.
Directed by recent Middlebury graduate Madison Middleton ’22.5, the show was a collage of 10 short plays, weaving together stories of cynical, market-oriented polar bears, an artificial intelligence model selling self-help books, guilt-ridden U.S. tourists unaware of their carbon footprint and mushroom-worshiping mystics to remind the audience that everyone is implicated in the climate struggle.
“Look, Dream, Begin” marked Middlebury’s first time participating in the Climate Change Theatre Action, a biennial worldwide theater festival that coincides with the United Nations Conference of the Parties, a part of the UN Climate Change Conference. The festival was brought to Middlebury by dramaturge Maya Teiman ’25.
“Theater doesn’t usually come to people’s minds when they think about ways to engage with climate change,” Teiman wrote in the show’s program.
For Marlow Saucier ’24, an audience member and climate activist, the show’s unique stance worked perfectly. “I’m very passionate about using art as a way of processing climate change, so I appreciated the show’s call to action,” Saucier said.
As with climate action, it takes bravery to take the stage, and the debuting artists lived up to that calling spectacularly. Dressed as fancy but starving polar bears, Max Blumenthal ’27 and Virginia Frau ’27 drew audience laughter by advocating for “market-based solutions,” like creating a delivery app to compensate for the lack of seals in the Arctic. Odette Castillo Pinto ’27 made her debut on the Hepburn Zoo stage as “Consciousness,” effectively calling out the environmental impact of well-meaning American spring breakers Nitya Kaul ’27 and Edith Mauch ’27.
Behind the scenes, Castillo Pinto told The Campus about being scared at the prospect of tackling an all-encompassing issue like climate change on stage. Working with the cast, however, gave her a deeper insight into what is at the heart of the show’s message.
“We all give something to this world and we’re in it together,” Castillo Pinto said.
This feeling of camaraderie was shared by fellow cast member Claire Hatch ’26, who was surprised by how fun the three weeks of intensive rehearsals leading up to the show were. When asked whether working on the show changed her approach to climate change, Hatch spoke of a newfound openness to how she takes action.
“I often thought of STEM fields as the only way to address it, but there are other things that I can do to address climate change, like the posters in the entrance or through theater,” Hatch added.
The show production itself embodied an emphasis on climate awareness and the struggle of collective action that tied the skits together. Outside of the Hepburn Zoo theater, an exhibit of collages made in collaboration with Assistant Professor of Biology Greg Pask’s Entomology class gave voice to endangered insects’ indignation. “I am constantly worried that my babies won’t have a safe place to grow up! #ProtectFutureGenerations,” read a speech bubble next to a garden tiger moth.
All materials and costumes on the show’s set were sourced from the college’s Recycling Center or the theater department wardrobe. “We’re showing an example of how to start making highly effective theater with no shipping, no purchasing except from local providers. We have to, as artists, as theater makers, consider the impacts of how we create,” Middleton said, adding that even the parsnips used in one of the short plays were sourced from a local Vermont farm.
Bold and unafraid to take a stand on the root of the climate crisis, “Look, Dream, Begin” addresses our complacency with capitalism and the dangers of waiting for a perfect solution to this immense environmental crisis head-on. At the same time, the show reminds us that change can start with imperfect action.
A passionate Moriah Thompson ’25 concluded the show with a call to action: “Dream with us, then dare to begin.” She continued, addressing the riveted audience: “What’s your dream?”
As the curtain gave way to applause, the audience was left feeling that the best climate action is whatever one we decide to act on right now.
