With 'Lungs,' GreenHouse Theatre Project looks for love amid crisis

Aarik Danielsen, Columbia Daily Tribune
·2 min read
Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri, right, wades Jacob Blank through the water at the beginning of the play during GreenHouse Theatre Project’s production of “LAKE//SHAKES” last year. Palmieri directs the upcoming GreenHouse production of "Lungs."
Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri, right, wades Jacob Blank through the water at the beginning of the play during GreenHouse Theatre Project’s production of “LAKE//SHAKES” last year. Palmieri directs the upcoming GreenHouse production of "Lungs."

What right do we have to wrap our arms around good things, to make more life even, when the world is burning down?

This all-too-relevant question sits at the heart of Duncan Macmillan's play "Lungs," which GreenHouse Theatre Project will bring to the stage next week.

"The world is getting hotter, there’s unrest overseas—the seas themselves aren’t very calm—and one couple is thinking about having a child," reads the opening line of GreenHouse's description.

The two-person show will feature performers Anna Sundberg and Rob Glauz, and will be directed by GreenHouse co-founder Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri.

Sundberg has appeared in previous GreenHouse productions "Our Town," "Dark Creation: The Mary Shelley Project" and "Big Love"; Glauz will be familiar to local audiences who saw GreenHouse productions such as "Romeo and Juliet" and "Macbeth."

"Lungs" debuted in 2011 in Washington, D.C., and received a notable staging at London's The Old Vic in 2019 with "The Crown" actors Matt Smith and Claire Foy in the lead roles.

The show "gives voice to a generation for whom uncertainty is a way of life through two flawed, but deeply human, people who you don't always like but start to feel you might love," The Guardian's Lyn Gardner wrote in a 2011 review.

Macmillan's other plays include "Every Brilliant Thing" and an adaptation of George Orwell's iconic novel "1984."

An innovative, site-specific company, GreenHouse's past productions include "A Christmas Carol" at Blue Bell Farm in Fayette, "Hedda Gabler" at the Missouri Theatre and living room shows in Columbia homes.

The show runs at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at Firestone Baars Chapel on the Stephens College campus. Tickets are $12 to $18. The show features adult language and themes, according to GreenHouse. Masks will be required for patrons.

Visit https://www.greenhousetp.org/ for more details.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: With 'Lungs,' GreenHouse Theatre Project looks for love amid crisis