Catherine Filloux Will Debut New Play OLIVIA This Month
Following the reading, invited guests will participate in a targeted conversation and call to action focused on climate accountability and policy advocacy.
By: Stephi Wild Feb. 11, 2026
Award-winning playwright and human rights activist Catherine Filloux will premiere The Olivia Project with a one-performance staged reading of her new two-woman play OLIVIA directed by Elena Araoz, featuring Emily Arancio (Motherland) and Nadia Bowers (The Farnsworth Invention, Doubt, Metamorphoses), on Friday, February 27, 2026, at 3 p.m. at The Studio Theatre, 520 Eighth Avenue, 9th Floor, in Manhattan. The FREE event has limited seating and attendance is by RSVP only to: selma65nyc@gmail.com
OLIVIA explores the collision of fossil fuel dependency and generational reckoning through the intimate relationship between a mother and daughter. Olivia Williamson and her mother, Lina, navigate their tenuous bond as Olivia — armed with a Stanford degree — refuses to accept the family myths her mother clings to. Through oil-spilled rainbows and blood-stained family trees, Olivia makes her way to the mountains, determined to challenge the forces that shaped her childhood, disrupting Lina's worldview along the way. Blood may be thicker than water — but will Olivia discover that oil is thicker than both?
The reading will feature Arancio as Olivia Williamson and Bowers as Lina Williamson, produced by Xander Jackson and casting by Pat McCorkle, CSA. Katie Rosin and Erin Kramer as Press Representatives; Social Media by Daniel Rosen.
Following the reading, invited guests will participate in a targeted conversation and call to action focused on climate accountability and policy advocacy, including support for the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act.
Filloux, whose father, an oceanographer, was the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a catamaran, has been a passionate advocate against plastic pollution since childhood. Filloux's partners on The Olivia Project include Climate Rights International, The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, In The Same Boat (Norway), and F Minus.
The event is Friday, February 27, 2026, at 3 p.m. at The Studio Theatre, 520 Eighth Avenue, 9th Floor. Seating is limited for the FREE event, and attendance is by RSVP only to: selma65nyc@gmail.com
Running Time: 80 minutes plus a brief conversation.
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