Chicago Youth Perform Play About Global Water Issues

A person fills a container with water, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 1, 2019. Since a massive power failure struck March 7, the nation has experienced near-daily blackouts and a breakdown in critical services such as running water and public transportation.
A person fills a container with water, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 1, 2019. Since a massive power failure struck March 7, the nation has experienced near-daily blackouts and a breakdown in critical services such as running water and public transportation. Ariana Cubillos / AP Photo
A person fills a container with water, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 1, 2019. Since a massive power failure struck March 7, the nation has experienced near-daily blackouts and a breakdown in critical services such as running water and public transportation.
A person fills a container with water, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 1, 2019. Since a massive power failure struck March 7, the nation has experienced near-daily blackouts and a breakdown in critical services such as running water and public transportation. Ariana Cubillos / AP Photo

Chicago Youth Perform Play About Global Water Issues

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The past year has seen teenagers in Chicago and across the world take to the streets to demand action on environmental degradation and climate change. A group of Chicago teenagers, members of Free Street Theater’s youth ensemble, have spent the past ten months devising “Parched: Stories About Water, Pollution & Theft,” a performance that combines their artistic direction with input from Chicago community members, activists and researchers to ask, “When did water become a privilege?” Worldview‘s food, health and culture contributor Monica Eng chats with the play’s director, Katrina Dion, about the company’s mission of healing through art and how the play connects water injustices in Chicago with Flint, Michigan and Standing Rock.