Escape! The Great Specific Garbage Catch

- Producer + Co Game Designer

@ Hollywood Fringe Festival & Outside Extension (2025)

Summary

What if an imaginary climate activist broke the wall between the stage and the sea to host a sit-in on the Great Garbage Patch? In this (mostly) 1-woman show, She draws the audience into her trashy theater world, and challenges them to imagine a better one. Through interactions with puzzles, props, plastic, politics, and prose (sometimes all at once), people will ponder upon the problem of the Pacific.

What I learned

My first "real world" production. With my dear collaborator, Tyler Neufeld, we created and successfully funded a Kickstarter goal of over $3000. This production was particularly challenging because most of the pre-production happened over ZOOM while I was still in Chicago for school! All in all, I learned how to fundraise, make sure we were on budget, and figure out real world things now (like theater rental, insurance, etc). Did I mention the set is all built out of cardboard...

"For a Fringe production, this is what we like to see: big ideas, executed with gusto. So: bravo."
- Noah Nelson of No Proscenium
"The props and set pieces were clearly constructed with care, thought, and effort. Details like the plastic shimmer of ocean waves and the cardboard puppet theater made the production feel more personal."
- Sarah Willson of Room Escape Artist

Credits

CAST
She - Kathryn Steenburgh 
Angela - Sophia Raye 
Jiàn Chén - Kyle Green 

PRODUCTION
Writer, Co-Game Designer, Scenic Designer, Producer - Tyler Neufeld
Producer, Co Game Designer - Ghino Lee
Co Director, Dramaturg - Brooke Lebidine
Co Director, Dramaturg - Michaela Duarte
Lighting Designer - Bianca Bishop
Stage Hand - Jeannine Vargas

Back to Home