←Recommendations of Two Degrees

A revealing play about our climate and changing planet that brings the issues of political legislation and science to the forefront. Well done.

This is an important climate related play, with strong human story elements including love, grief and the metaphors that follow us around to try to make sense of it all.

When I saw this play at the Great Plains Theatre Conference, I was wowed by the way Tira Palmquist had mastered the language of science, the language of politics, and the language of loss, not to mention the perfect pacing. I just reread, and it's even better than I'd remembered. There's so much going on here, yet the play seems so neat. And I like all the characters, even when they dislike one another. I think that's a major achievement.

This piece is about telling the true story of our changing climate to a world afraid to hear it. But, if humans are going to survive, we must yank the reins of narrative away from the fossil fuel industry and tell the real story, with science. This play follows one scientist who, at first reluctantly and then with more conviction, attempts to do just that. We need this play and many, many more like it and we need it now. This play needs to be seen, now. This story needs to be told, now.

Tira is one of my favorite playwrights. She has a way of writing humanity into every moment and every character, but she also continues to write important, politically informed, and relevant works for the world we are living in right now. TWO DEGREES is a desperately important play with a strong narrative and moments of beautiful theatricality. I would love to see this play produced again and again!

Well researched, relatable and engaging, an exploration of urgency and complexity around climate change and politics, their personal and social effects. A great role for a woman at the center of the story!

Brilliant. Perfectly structured with its past and present scenes with fluid transitions. An accessible, conversation-starting play for audiences now and in the future. Could be a future classic play on climate change. Highly recommended! Stage it on Earth Day!

Cunningly and painlessly integrates hard-core science into a very human, very dramatic story of relationships with real and immediate stakes. An ingeniously accessible way to spur conversations about climate change within audiences with diverse political outlooks.

Two Degrees is a thoughtful and passionate look into a scientist studying the effects of climate change. Brought to Washington to testify before a Senate Committee, Emma Phelps, a paleoclimatologist, finds herself trying to cut through politics while holding her fragile, personal life together. The play threads together the urgent danger of climate change, science, politics, grief and humanity. The ending is a skillful combination of the forces in Emma's life that interweave and offer hope.

This is a fantastic play about grief, loss, and fighting for what you believe in! Go see the workshop production in Denver this March at the Aurora Fox Theatre!