The Chemical Valley Project
adds to Teesri Duniya mission
Kevin Matthew Wong’s multi-media presentation deals with pollution and climate change
By Byron Toben
Updated March 23, 2024
Teesri Duniya, under the guidance of founder Rahul Varma, has a great motto To change the world, one play at a time. Its current presentation, The Chemical Valley Project, is a good example of that, in this case, dealing with pollution and climate change.
Sarnia, Ontario, is the centre of the aforesaid chemical valley as it has many polluting plants, petro chemical and others, poisoning the surrounding water and air, often to the detriment of indigenous populations.
The whole was devised by Kevin Matthew Wong in 2016 when he was only 22 and added to over the intervening years based on his research and interviews with key activists, starting with indigenous siblings Vanessa and Beze Gray.
Sarnia, Ontario, is the centre of the aforesaid chemical valley as it has many polluting plants, petro chemical and others, poisoning the surrounding water and air, often to the detriment of indigenous populations. His presentation relies on quick body movement, audio-visual aids and toy puppet props like a canoe and sailboat.
The show begins and ends with a recitation inspired by the increased number of forest fires of late. Animals – moose, bear and beaver – scramble to lakes to avoid the flames. However, a lone hummingbird sips water from the lake, hovers over the flames and releases a drop, repeating this multiple times, to which the other animals cry out, “Why do you persist? It is not enough to quell the fire!” to which the hummingbird replies “I only do what I can” and adds “What do you do?”
That interchange brought to my mind the actions of then-15-year-old Gretta Thunberg sitting next to the Swedish parliament and what she inspired. Was she the Swedish hummingbird?
Kevin Wong’s actions included teaching the audience some native words, throwing some native chocolate cookies into the crowd and speculating that his empathy with indigenous people in Canada stemmed from the fact that they were both colonized (He had been born in Hong Kong.)
The Chemical Valley Project continues until March 24.
Images: courtesy of Teesri Duniya
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Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated websites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner, and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.
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