Unlike ecocriticism that has emerged since the 70s, the engagement with ecocriticism in theatre/performance studies came late in the 90s. Since then, starting with Una Chaudhuri, the concept of ‘ecodrama’ has been explored by Wendy Arons, Theresa J. May, and Downing Cless. To narrow the gap between nature and culture/theatre, early ecotheater scholars and practitioners, including Chaudhuri herself, attempted to leave the theatre and make a site-specific play in the Nature outside the theatre. However, in 2010, ‘The Ecocide Project’, which was part of NYU’s Research Theatre, returned to the theatre and created a play called Carla and Lewis. In this paper, we examine the possible implications that lie behind its ‘return’ and the significance of this project/play within the topography of ecodramaturgy.
According to May, ecodramaturgy is a theatre praxis that puts ecological relations between nature and culture and human and nonhuman at the center of its critical analysis and artistic practice. In this sense, we argue that Carla and Lewis, as a ‘Research Theatre,’ serves as an exemplary model for ecodramaturgy since it effectively incorporates theories such as Timothy Morton’s “Deep/Queer Ecology,” Deleuze and Guattari’s “becoming-animal,” Jane Bennett’s “vibrant materialism,” and Antonin Artaud’s “theatre of cruelty” into the play. Moreover, we claim that Carla and Lewis redefines the theatre as a space full of ecocritical possibilities, a space where heterogenous but porous, vibrant matters appear as new “actants” on stage.