Buoyed by the promise of jobs and economic development, a series of factories plague a small town. But with reports of dangerous chemicals leaking from the industrial plants, a young woman must make impossible choices to protect her loved ones. Set over 40 years, Rishi Varma’s new drama SULFUR BOTTOM sees an embattled family forced to confront generations of environmental injustice—and maybe just a few talking animals along the way.
I came to see Sulfur Bottom written by Rishi Varma and directed by Megumi Nakamura at The Theater Center fearing a sermon about how we Earth inhabitants are destroying the future with our unconscious lifestyles. But rather than coming away feeling guilty and possessing no ideas for corrective action, I can report that what I experienced was a living portrait of a family surviving existence on a choking planet while still reaching for joy, love, belonging and understanding of one another. The consciousness of these characters moves through all states – the unitary, the dream state, the mystical and the indescribable. All this through using broad strokes of time-travel, shape-shifting and symbols of transformation as illustrative vehicles. Rather than pulled by our ears to hard conclusions, the audience is gently held in revelatory visions.
Some elements of the play come off as unfinished; for one, I could never quite wrap my head around the concept of a whale terrorizing a small town. Sulfur Bottom feels like it needs more development to reach its full potential, but Varma’s message is still powerful: If the only path towards a better life cuts you off from the people who love you, how could future generations ever come to terms with the choices of their forebears?
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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