“THE NEXT FOREVER”: An early production of the climate change musical, “The Great Immensity,” presented by The Civilians, the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Princeton Atelier, and Princeton University’s High Meadows Environmental Institute. (Photo by Denise Applewhite)

The Civilians, Princeton University’s High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI), and the Lewis Center for the Arts announce The Next Forever, a one-of-a-kind partnership that will create new stories for a changing planet. This three-year initiative will explore how dynamic storytelling can engage vital environmental subjects and provide the vision and inspiration society needs to navigate the challenges of our planet’s future — the “next forever.”

“What stories can we tell to find our way out of the planetary crisis we’re in?” This is the question that The Civilians, a professional New York City-based theater company, and Princeton University are putting to students, scientists, and theater-makers vis-à-vis The Next Forever. The crisis is environmental — climate change, biodiversity loss, ecological collapse, food insecurity. But it’s also a crisis of imagination.

The Next Forever provides forward-thinking artists access to a cross-disciplinary range of knowledge and ideas — of scientists, conservation psychologists, historians, policy and communications experts, and others. The intention is to support artists as they pursue inquiry into their subject matter alongside some of Princeton University’s greatest thinkers.

This multifaceted initiative comprises a competitive commission and residency program for theater makers, an ongoing series of public events and performances, and an undergraduate course on narrative and the environment. It will fund two commissions of theatrical work that offer new visions for how we relate to the world around us. Additionally, The Next Forever provides artists with the opportunity to engage over a semester with Princeton faculty working in relevant fields.

“I believe that the scope and complexity of the present environmental crises ask all of us to think beyond business as usual,” said Steve Cosson, artistic director of The Civilians. “The Next Forever is an invitation to artists who are eager to break out of the writing studio or the rehearsal room and develop new work in conversation with leading scholars and thinkers. I’m grateful to Princeton University’s High Meadows Environmental Institute and Lewis Center for the Arts for their generous support and vision.”

As part of The Next Forever, two commissions will be awarded annually to theater makers to create original works that engage environmental subject matter. The initiative will also provide commissioned artists with the opportunity to engage with Princeton faculty, researchers, and students working in fields relevant to their projects. Following the completion of the commission, further development of the new work with The Civilians is possible.

The Next Forever builds on a partnership between The Civilians and Princeton University that began in 2009 with the development of The Great Immensity, one of the first American plays to address climate change. Prior to its 2012 world premiere at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and New York premiere at The Public Theater, The Great Immensity was developed in collaboration with High Meadows Environmental Institute (formerly Princeton Environmental Institute) over two years. The play also received a work-in-progress showing in a collaboration between the Lewis Center’s Princeton Atelier and the Princeton Environmental Institute in 2010 at the Berlind Theatre at the McCarter Theatre Center at Princeton University.