your optimism is not required
Part play, part community building action, OPTIMISM is a playful exploration of the intersections of climate anxiety, parenthood, camping, and the realities of being a young person in a changing/crumbling world.
Created by: Alex Torra, Rachel Camp, Jackie Soro, Benjamin Camp, and Makoto Hirano.
Performed by Jackie Soro & Ben Camp
Directed by Alex Torra
Workshop performances of OPTIMISM were co-presented by:
2021 Bartram’s Garden (PHL)
2022 The Philadelphia Thing's Trade School at The Village of Arts and Humanities (PHL)
2023 Center for the Arts at Kayenta (Utah)
“YOUR OPTIMISM IS NOT REQUIRED takes place at an intimate, outdoor performance site encircling a campfire. Guided by two performers, the audience comes to embody characters in the lives of Daughter and Dad: a fictional biracial teenager and her white father on a camping trip confronting futures shaped by climate change.”
— Team Sunshine Performance
