As funding and solutions for the climate crisis spark more debate, an off-Broadway playhouse in Manhattan is commissioning a full season of 11 new plays to discuss the climate crisis through theater. Among the Lucille Lortel Theatre’s 2024-2025 season lineup is UT alumnus Danny Tejera’s new romantic comedy “Hinge Baby.”

“Hinge Baby,” currently in its developing stages, follows a woman named Miranda living in Miami Beach as she falls in love with her building manager, Danny. Set in the near future, the story focuses on the complexities of Danny and Miranda’s relationship all while a disruption by rising Miami tides yields the need for a new seawall. This is the first time Tejera (M.F.A. in playwriting, ’20), or his co-playwright Tatiana Pandiani, has written a play focusing on the climate crisis.

“(Global warming is) hard to write about,” Tejera said. “I’m scared of plays that have a didactic message. I write from a place of questioning rather than wanting to lecture an audience or teach an audience anything.” 

Global warming existing as the secondary focus of “Hinge Baby” makes the story approachable to a wider audience while still addressing the reality of the climate crisis, said Tejera. Caridad Svich, the artistic director of The Alcove New Play Development Program and play commissioner, first met Tejera while they were students at UT. Svich said more groups should encourage storytellers to involve the climate crisis in their stories as it’s the issue of our time. 

“There’s been a counter-narrative around (suggesting the climate crisis). It’s very ‘doomer’ to talk about the reality of the climate crisis,” Svich said. “Either we face reality or we don’t … We need to do better.”

The basis of “Hinge Baby” is largely inspired by Pandiani’s personal experience living in Miami. While there, she learned more about climate change and how it specifically threatens Miami Beach, bringing extra expenses to the area for building assessments.

“The take on the play is like (a homeowner’s) association meeting gone wrong,” Pandiani said. “As I joined the HOA at my building, I realized there is a lot of conflict and drama, but it’s also a lot of comedy seeing how different people deal with that.”

With the unique emphasis on comedy and realistically living through a disaster, “Hinge Baby” and future similar artistic work could promise a shift in the way audiences think about climate disasters and the way artists approach depicting them. 

“In the past, I’ve had most success from my plays when I don’t tackle a big societal issue super on the nose,” Tejera said. “I’m curious to see how taking on something like this a little more directly (will) feel to me or an audience.”