Hello! We are so thrilled that you have made it to THE FOURTH R: reduce, reuse, recycle, REVOLUTIONIZE We cannot wait to celebrate this beautiful Earth with you! It's very important to us that you understand what you're about to watch so please take some time to read the message below from our director, Emma Bartolomucci
The climate crisis is a tough issue to tackle in story form because there's many contributing factors that are interconnected. For example, it's hard to talk about plastics without talking about consumerism. It's hard to talk about fossil fuels without talking about those responsible. And it's hard to talk about natural disasters without discussing the effects they have on marginalized groups of people. We are learning that it's not enough to understand climate science, we also must talk about climate justice. I made this show because I love the world, the people and the animals in it. My mission is to empower people to demand that we all have the right to happy, healthy, fulfilling lives.
Our story follows the journeys of three characters; a fossil fuel investor giant, a consumer of all things, and a person who lives in a place vulnerable to the effects of climate change. These characters are representatives of groups of people globally that share climate experiences. As our play unfolds, we see how their daily actions contribute to the rising emissions and in the end their ability for empathy will be the only cure to the disease.
No planet, no future. The hope is US. Enjoy the show.
Current cast from left to right: Derek Souvannavong, Abigail Hanson, Emma Bartolomucci. Photo by Airian Mcleish
Bios: Emma Bartolomucci: A graduate of the Canadian Dance Company and the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts, becoming an artist has been a lifelong journey. She has had the privilege of working with many international entertainment companies, performing in a variety of theatrical productions all across the globe. At the age of 32, she has been to 33 countries and through her travels has made an effort to better understand the world and its inequities. Alongside her artistic endeavours, her passion for climate justice and environmentalism has been ongoing. Over the past two years she was able to complete two courses: "Greening the Economy: Sustainable Cities" from Lund University in Sweden and "Political and Moral Foundations" from Yale University. She has participated and volunteered for many climate change and social justice organizations with Friday's For Future, 350 Canada, Not Another Black Life, Stop Highway 413, Every Child Matters, Black Lives Matter, Juneteenth, Banking on a Better Future and Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction. She completed a 6 month mentorship with the City of Toronto, Women4Climate, in which The Fourth R was mentored by climate experts across Canada. Currently, she is in presentation of her theatrical multimedia dance piece called THE FOURTH R: reduce, reuse, recycle, Revolutionize. Since the launch, The Fourth R has been shown 40 times; a cross Canada tour (PEI, Halifax, Edmonton), events (Lion's Club Int., Esperanto Gallery, Swansea studio showing), and a southern Ontario school tour (15 schools, reaching over 5000 students).
Previous work and credits: She has choreographed musical theatre (Shrek, Dora the Explorer, Hair, Seussical the Musical, The Little Mermaid, Fame, Little Women LOT/FirstActProd) and children's touring theatre (Little Red Theatre). She has choreographed music videos for Juno award winning Splash n' Boots and with production company Yeah! Films for Canadian bands Seaway and Pin Up. Her work has been shown at festivals like Fever After Dark with Jerome Bobb and Bazaar. She has taught dance, musical theatre and scene study with several different Toronto based companies including York University and Ryerson School of Performance Summer Intensives. Her work with the bold indie theatre company, Echo Productions, has given her the chance to choreograph stories like, Bonnie and Clyde, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dog Sees God and Charles Manson: Son of Man. She has performed contracts in Newfoundland, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Yukon Territory and has toured across the United States (Hair National Tour-Starvox Ent.), Europe (Hair European Tour), Maritimes Canada (The Great Big Boo) and South America (Norwegian Cruise Line). In 2018, she launched her independent dance company, Dance Fachin with their premiere work, Worldly Women. Worldly Women is a story about the different kinds of oppression women face around the globe. The show won the prestigious Jury's Choice Award (Ottawa Fringe) and Patron's Pick Award (Island Fringe). In early 2019, she performed in the first regional production (since it's run on Broadway) of An American in Paris with Arizona Broadway Theatre. There she was in the female ensemble, singing, dancing and en pointe. She has been dancing in various music videos with MMEntertainment including Jassa Dhillion's video PYAR HOGYA which has over 17 million views. @dancefachin
Abigail Hanson, emerging artist: Abby Hanson (she/they) is an emerging contemporary dance artist currently based in Toronto (Treaty 13 Territory), originally from Edmonton (Treaty 6 Territory). She is a 2023 graduate of Dance Arts Institute Canada (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre) where she trained and performed repertoire by many artists including Amanda Acorn, Tia Ashley-Krurushniruk, Peggy Baker, Tilman O'Donnell, and many others. She is a graduate of Victoria School of the Arts where she took part in dance and musical theatre extracurriculars and took classes from artists such as Joshua Beamish, Allen Kaeja, Belinda McGuire, and David Norsworthy. Over the past 10 years, she has trained, performed, and competed in multiple styles of dance such as Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip-Hop, and more. From 2018-2020 she performed in Edmonton's Nextfest Arts Company, curated by Good Women Dance Collective. Abby has experience in teaching young dancers and hopes to further grow her expertise in teaching dancers of all ages. She continues to grow her dance and creative practice in Toronto by taking classes, and workshops, and collaborating in as many processes as possible.
Derek Souvannavong, emerging artist: Toronto-based emerging artist Derek Souvannavong is a 2022 graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours Dance Program at York University, where his achievements in choreography and performance were recognized with the Spedding Memorial Scholarship and the Menaka Thakkar Award in World Dance. He has recently performed solo work this identity: woven created in collaboration with Peggy Baker through the RBC Emerging Artists Program, as well as performed work through DaCo Lab hosted by Angela Blumberg. He is a former company member of Free Flow Dance Theatre where he has performed in numerous productions by guest artists Terrill Maguire, Danny Grossman, Edward Kastrau and Newton Moraes. Also Intrigued by traditional Lao dance forms, Souvannavong wishes to continue exploring relations between Lao dance forms and the western diaspora of contemporary dance.
A Special Thanks to our Contributors: Koffman Academy City of Toronto Jackie Otoway Vivian Fachin Peter Evans Alexis Lamarre Shane O'regan GUEST SPEAKERS (post show talk back): JULY 6TH- MIKE SCHREINER (LEADER OF ONTARIO GREEN PARTY) JULY 11TH- DIANNE SAXE (FORMER ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSIONER OF CANADA) JULY 13TH- ALI FROM ECOJUSTICE (CANADA'S LARGEST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW FIRM) JULY 14TH- BANKING ON A BETTER FUTURE (YOUTH ACTIVIST GROUP) JULY 15TH- GREENPEACE(ICONIC GLOBAL ACTIVIST ORGANIZATION) JULY 16TH- CANADIAN GREEN ALLIANCE (COALITION FOR THEATRE AND SUSTAINABILITY)
Visual Designer: Airian McLeish
Airian McLeish is a Toronto based projectionist and archivist who has worked for dozens of film festivals in Toronto over the past 10 years (including Rendezvous with Madness-which took place in this very theatre!, TIFF, Toronto After Dark, Hot Docs etc.). He has dedicated himself to his role as head film revisor at Tiff Bell Lightbox responsible for inspecting and preserving archival film material for all of their screenings. He is immensely passionate about the medium of film and an advocate for all things celluloid. Aside from his work in motion picture exhibition he's also a photographer who continues to shoot in a continued effort to celebrate the expressive qualities of film. His work for Dance Fachin includes shooting dynamic promotional photo, video and creating all the company's graphic designs. @goodcommercialart
Stage Managers:
Sabrina Casanova graduated from Ottawa University's Theatre program. She enjoys a wide variety of roles in theatre including producing, directing, assisting, stage managing and social media coordinating. Her work has been shown at the Ottawa Fringe Festival in 2019. She is currently working with the City of Mississauga as a librarian. She is excited to be taking part in the collaboration and management of The Fourth R and can’t wait to bring it to more audiences.