Performances

Mermaid Truth or Consequences

a Bio-diversity game show

Mermaid Truth or Consequences is a live game show where, if you can’t tell the truth about biodiversity loss, you have to pay the consequences. That’s right folks, life is one big scratch ticket, so what have you got to lose? Take it from a mermaid, extinction is real in this rollicking game to the finish!

Besides some high stakes games, your host Siren Jones interviews such illustrious guests as Ponce de Leon (one of the forefathers of resource extraction capitalism) and the bestselling author and forecaster Dra. Dolores du Monde about human and non-human survival.   And there are prizes!  

This eco-performance is written and performed by Elizabeth Doud, directed by Carlos Miguel Caballero, and includes the participation of Inez Barlatier (musician, actor) and Celia Ledón (costume/set design). Original music and sound design by Pavel Urkiza.

Climakaze Miami is a platform for performance and dialogue about climate change, environmental justice and sustainable futures en la Florida. Through arts and storytelling, we aim to build generative human networks in Florida and beyond which create awareness, action and greater empathy for other humans and other species.

The Mermaid Tear Factory

an Ecoperformance laboratory

From atop a trashy throne pulled by a bicycle, this mermaid is incarnated by artist Elizabeth Doud, who devised and staged this little street performance, which tells the story of a contemporary mermaid who comes ashore to protest sea garbage and conquer the hearts of humans, while selling them a magic potion:  her tears.

As the practical component of a doctoral research project of the Federal University of Bahia's Post Graduate Program in Performing Arts, The Mermaid Tear Factory is an ongoing performance laboratory and site-specific exploration of the mermaid myth, and how the goddesses of the sea are confronting our hedonistic and pathological single use plastics consumption, and how this dispersion has infiltrated our oceans, our minds and our bodies.  The performance tells the story of a vigilante mermaid who is half activist-saleswoman-professor and half sea-goddess:  a post-modern Yemanjá-descended eco-crime fighter who lives in a tent on the beach.  

This performance aims to poetically promote dynamic dialogue around the crisis of what many call one of the biggest threats to our biosphere:  The plastics pollution and acidification of our planet’s oceans.  The work is designed to exist, free of charge, in a public space where people have independently congregated to enjoy the ocean, but can also be presented indoors in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

The first version of the scenic work was premiered in Miami in August 2015 (Spanglish version) with support from the Miami Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Miami Light Project and FUNDarte, and took place at two different beach locations east of the dunes on Miami Beach.  A fully Spanish verion was presented at the Havana International Theater Festival in the foyer of the Teatro Trianón on Calle Linea with further support from FUNDarte and Teatro El Público in the Fall of 2015.  In January 2016, a Portuguese version was presented as part of socio-environmental events of the Capoeira Association of Paraguassu, on Itaparica Island, Gamboa, Vera Cruz.  In May 2016,  a beach-based version was presented on Praia da Gamboa on the Island of Itaparica in Brazil, also performed as part of The Federal University of Bahia's Geo-Science School's Oceanography Week.

This project was supported primarily by the Post Graduate Program of Performing Arts of the Federal University of Bahia, under the advisement of Professor Suzana Martins, and has most recently received production and touring support to travel to 10 beaches in the State of Bahia, Brazil by the Bahia State Secretary of Culture (Secretaria de Cultura do Estado de Bahia / SECULT) in 2016 for a 2018 activities.

Other modified performances of this work have been presented in Wynwood, Miami at the Wynwood Walls as part of the Environmental Grant Makers Association, at Viscaya Estate and Gardens as part of FIU’s Fragile Habitat Series in 2016, and at schools, parks and beaches.