Theatricalizing Ecological Disaster: The Ecodramaturgy of Ping Chong + Company’s Alaxsxa | Alaska (2017)

This article aims to explore the transformative potential of community-specific Indigenous theatre in reshaping socio-political and ecological landscapes, with reference to Alaxsxa | Alaska (2017) by Ping Chong + Company, one of the most prominent companies of the New York City theatre scene of the past fifty years. In conversation with recent theoretical and practice-oriented accounts of ecodramaturgy, the following analysis proposes: (1) to document the agenda of community engagement undergirding the play’s development, production, and reception, drawing on ethnographic material; (2) to clarify its contributions to developing an Indigenized perspective on Alaska’s history, with a focus on the impact of ecological disasters on its human and more-than-human worlds; and (3) to outline the afterlives of the project, particularly in and for Alaska Native communities, while reflecting on the broader implications of this legacy for contemporary ecologies of performance.