For fun, here are some views of ELEMENTAL – Earth, Water, Air, Fire, a project we started to build as one of the prototypes for our Conference of Fire (C o F) program. ELEMENTAL is designed to introduce kids and families to the function of fire in nature; for example, did you know that giant sequoias need fire to germinate? And of course we humans need fire for heat, light, cooking, etc.–but wildfires are increasing in intensity and frequency due to extreme weather caused by climate change, and they pose a devastating threat to habitat, humans, and other living creatures. So part of the ELEMENTAl project is to educate kids about all the aspects of fire including prevention, abatement, myths, and to give them an opportunity to talk about how fire has affected them–using stories, puppets, and creative activities. C o F was originally intended to be a large-scale documentary installation and performance enhanced by videos, movement, sound design, etc.; we had our first generative session with community members, artists, public health professionals, and scholars in October 2024 and originally intended to devise the installation/performance over the course of three years. But after the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles in January 2025, we (co-creators/co-producers Michael Bodie and Paula Cizmar) decided we needed to make something that was more flexible, quicker to put together, and portable. We pivoted–and this spring some of our students jumped in to create puppet shows, on-the-fly iPhone videos, and hands-on activities to help heal the trauma of fire and to turn tragedy into a teaching moment. Hats off to June Rutherford, K. Tsai, Yuhe Shen, Brian North, and Jordan Alexander who were game to experiment with a form that was new to them! ELEMENTAL will continue to grow as we add more pieces to the overall project…..
ELEMENTAL – a prototype for Conference of Fire (C o F). C o F is created and curated by filmmaker Michael Bodie and playwright Paula Cizmar. Funding provided by the Center for Children’s Environmental Health’s Research Translation grant and supported by the Institute for Theatre and Social Change (Paula Cizmar & Kim Tabari, directors) at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts.
