First Year Lecture: Climate Change and Women’s Issues through Theatre

September 28, 2011

Theatre professor Dr. Beth Osnes gave a lecture entitled, Engaging Women’s Voices Through Theatre for Energy Development” to PLC students. While this sounds like a weighty title, Dr. Osnes truly does this in her life. She believes in leaving an impeccable path behind you and shared her stories with the students to advance this idea and her reputation

Dr. Osnes created a movement called “Mothers on Stilts” to protest the way September eleventh was handled. The program geared towards empowering voices instead of inciting riots. The program included taking children to talk senators about the war and a show called “Mother.” The experiences from the play showed Dr. Osnes that altruism alone is not a way to make lasting change but combining it with personal connections is much more powerful. The play was a performance about empowering women to have a voice in the public.  She has taken the play to a philanthropic level across the country and world

Dr, Osnes’ mission is theatre to engage and transform the lives of marginalized women. Dr. Osnes say that working with people, you must ask them what they want, not create results for them.  She gave the example of a woman in poverty who cooked on an open fire despite the fact that people put a stove into her house.  Since the women did not ask for the stove, she did not know how to use it.

Dr. Osnes’ current projects in nonprofit includes climate change and women’s issues, which she connects. She worked on a film “Mother Earth” which has the byline, ‘now caring for Seven Billion.’ The film touched on climate change and the need for women to become educated. Empowerment of women stabilizes birth rate population and Dr. Osnes sees this as a way to bridge the gap of the two fields

Dr. Osnes challenged the students to be able to answer key questions about their own life: What is yours to do? Who are you? What is there for you to contribute? In her mind everything is made up. As soon as you assert something into the world, it can be put forth. Which means that human made things can be destroyed. “She challenged the students to realize this potential for personal growth and the ability to mold the future. This Women’s Issues Climate Activist certainly has.

Derek Kessinger
Marketing and Media Fellow