Photos: Sneak Peek At Environmental Drama RIVEN Staged In An Actual Recycling Facility
RIVEN runs June 12 - 27.
By: A.A. Cristi Jun. 09, 2025
Sure We Can will co-present the World Premiere of RIVEN, a play based on the reality of waste pickers (the global community of people who pick and sort recyclable materials as a way of living). This site-specific production staged at an actual recycling center in Brooklyn explores themes of environmental justice, accumulation of waste, and complexities of hope. Check out photos below.
RIVEN follows Melina and Alessandra, two black women from the global south working at a waste picking cooperative – a place where recycled materials are sorted and people are rescued from neglect. Side by side, our characters share not only a lifetime of sorting the accumulated discards of a society that has failed them, but also a promise: to survive and to stay bound to each other.
RIVEN runs June 12 - 27, Thursday - Saturday at 7pm, and Sundays at 2pm & 7pm. Sure We Can is located at 219 Mckibben Street in Brooklyn, NY 11206 -- accessible from the L train at Montrose or Morgan Avenues. Tickets are $28.52, available at www.eventbrite.com.
RIVEN was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil – a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country's recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world. Host venue Sure We Can alone counts more than 1200 pickers as part of their community.
RIVEN is written and directed by Marina Zurita, created in collaboration with Josanna Vaz and Laila Garroni. It stars Josanna Vaz as Melina and Dee Beasael as Alessandra with live music by percussion ensemble Mambembé, percussionist Juan Sebastian Monsalve, and dancers Ananda Barnes and Lucas Santana. The production team includes Acadia Barrengos (co-director and movement director), Patricia Marjorie (costume and prop design), Josh Martinez-Davis (lighting designer), Guilherme Pedra (filmmaker), Whitney Fabre (costume assistant), Maya Strauss (lighting assistant), Luísa Galatti (marketing director), Yasmin Santata (graphic design), Josephine D'Arcy & Erin Gray (stage managers), Regina Maurício da Rocha (executive producer), Giorgia Valenti (producer), and Group Dot BR & Covi Brannan (associate producers).
Photo Credit: Alex Korolkovas
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