WESLEYAN
CARE FOR LOCAL RIVERS
Free the Connecticut River from Invasive Water Chestnuts and Hydrilla! Clean the Coginchaug River of trash and bacteria!
These photos show the Meet Your River stations, as well as a gorgeous immersive coral reef experience created by Courtney Gaston of the Wesleyan Theater Department, where audiences walked from a healthy coral reef to a dying reef, picking up trash the whole way to be recycled at the end.
Two local rivers, one covered in invasive plant species and one weighed down by trash and bacteria show up at intermission in human form in the hopes of getting some much needed help.
Audiences give the Connecticut River relief by pulling invasive water chestnuts and their 15 foot long roots out of the river’s costume, and they help the Coginchaug River by plucking off trash, algae, and bacteria.
Goal 𖤣𖥧.𖤣𖥧.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
Raise awareness around how storm run-off, trash and invasive plant species are harming the Connecticut and Coginchaug River ecosystems and help locals take action.
Process 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
Wesleyan students in an Introduction to Environmental Studies class engaged with Ocean Filibuster across two semesters. The Wesleyan campus sits at the top of a hill; at the bottom of that hill flows the Connecticut River. Another river, the Coginchaug, runs nearby and feeds into the Connecticut. The students asked: how does the Wesleyan campus/student population impact these rivers? After interviewing folks at local environmental organizations, the students invited Rhea Drozhdenko of the Connecticut River Conservancy and Jane Brawerman of CT Coastal Conservation Districts to partner with us. Jane and Rhea spoke passionately to us around issues of storm runoff and invasive plant species, and influenced the creation of this local station.
What if the Rivers climbed the hill to Wesleyan and asked for our help? Together we conceived of interactive river costumes.. Picture this: Audience members puuuuuuling pullllllllllling the 15 foot long roots of water chestnuts out of an actor playing the Connecticut River, as the river explains why they’re such a painful problem. Or picture this: audiences using grabber tools to clean litter and “e-coli” off the Coginchaug River, while hearing from the river about the problems of storm runoff and what they can do to help.
QR codes on the walls around the actor/rivers brought audiences to the websites of our partners where they found direct opportunities to volunteer on invasive plant pulls and river clean ups.
Partners 𓇢𓆸
Magical Moments During our Process
☁︎
Magical Moments During our Process ☁︎
One very early morning in April, we and our student team met Barry Chernoff, head of Wesleyan’s College of the Environment, for a special nature walk to the confluence of the Connecticut and Coginchaug Rivers. Mist, clouds, tall grass, birds, a few old tires, some trash.
Sky/land/river/animals/humans.
Budget ༄
$350 for costume materials and craft supplies. The costumes were crafted as part of a class, so there was no fee for that labor. $20 for printing QR codes.
