Emily Rose Herzlin

Consciousness & Environmentalism: New York City Buddhists Go Back to the Sack

by Emily Rose Herzlin
- USA -


On July 1st, the top post on the ID Project’s Blog proclaimed: No More Plastic Bags Y’all! We are going Back to the Sack!

Where’s your plastic bag stash? Everyone has one. It’s a kitchen cabinet or a drawer stuffed to the gills. It’s a corner of the hallway closet. Better yet, it’s a plastic bag filled with plastic bags. One New York City meditation center, The Interdependence Project (ID Project), has taken on the environmental issue of plastic bags as part of their ongoing effort to connect their meditation practice to their everyday lives. July 1st marked the start of their Low Impact Consumption Month and “Back to the Sack” initiative to eradicate plastic bag usage in New York City.

To New York’s Theatre Company CollaborationTown,
“Life is a Collage”

by Emily Rose Herzlin
- USA -


“Theatre is ephemeral,” proclaims Geoffrey Decas as he waxes philosophic and waters the plants on his terrace in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Cars whiz by on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway as the smell of marinated tofu wafts into the apartment from the grill on the terrace. “I’m a vegetarian so I get to decide what people eat,” Geoffrey says mischievously. “Which means the rest of us have to eat vegetarian since he’s cooking,” chimes in TJ Witham.


CollaborationTown charts new theatrical territory with their unique philosophy on art-making. CollaborationTown's website design by Derek Rippe.
TJ and Geoffrey are two members of the Artistic Core of CollaborationTown, a small but daring theatre company in New York City. The Artistic Core of CollaborationTown is comprised of eight young, dedicated theatre artists: Jesica Avellone, Matt Hopkins, Geoffrey Decas, Terri Gabriel, Jordan Seavey, Boo Killebrew, TJ Witham, and Managing Director Lee Ann Gullie. The Artistic Core is responsible for pretty much every aspect of the company, from performing to directing to marketing to grant-writing. Among some of their most recent shows are Townville, “365 Days/365 Plays,” 6969, The Deepest Play Ever, and They’re Just Like Us. Six members of the Artistic Core met last week in Greenpoint to plan for their newest show, inspired by the Beckett play Waiting for Godot. What’s their new play about? I don’t even bother to ask. I know from working with CollaborationTown last summer on “365 Days/365 Plays” that they won’t have an answer for me...yet.
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