How Theater Can Change the World for Animals w/ Grace Howarth & Anastasia Bunce

Our Hen House

What does a night out at the theater (or theatre, in this case) have to do with activism? A whole lot if it’s up to Anastasia Bunce & Grace Howarth, who join us this week to discuss Patch Plays, the vegan troupe that is producing theater that pays attention to the lives, and deaths, of animals.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Grace Joy Howarth is a playwright, author, and composer from London. She is one of Patch Plays’ Associate Writers and has been vegan since birth. Theatrical writing credits include ‘Blood on Your Hands’ (Southwark Playhouse, The Cockpit Theatre, BBC Writers Room Longlist, Masterclass Pitch Your Play Longlist), ‘Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom’ (The Greenhouse Theatre, Harrow Arts Centre, Polka Theatre R&D) and ‘She is Taken Lightly’ (Hope Mill Theatre). Her work has been produced in scratch nights across the UK, and she self-produced a radio play, ‘Until We Can’t See the Sky,’ on Resonance FM and Chapel FM. Grace has been shortlisted for the New York New Plays for Young Audiences showcase and longlisted for the British Youth Music Theatre Award. She has over a dozen short stories published in publications such as the H.G. Wells Short Story Award Collection, The National Archives Writing War, Writing Peace anthology, and Miniskirt Magazine. She holds a First Class degree in Songwriting and works as a freelance sustainability writer and editor.

Anastasia Bunce is a theatre and film director based in London who specializes in directing new writing with a political heart. She is the Artistic Director of Patch Plays, a company devoted to staging work that explores animal ethics and the environment. Stylistically, she is interested in utilizing expressionistic devices that enable the poetry of a piece to become its focal point, as this, for her, is where stories start to shape into art. Anastasia trained in MA Theatre Directing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2020. Recently she directed the critically acclaimed Offest finalist one-woman show ‘Meat Cute‘ by Bibi Lucille (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Gilded Balloon 2023), ‘Darkie Armo Girl’ by Karine Bedrossian (Finborough Theatre 2022), ‘Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom‘ by Grace Joy Howarth (Harrow Arts Centre 2022/Greenhouse Theatre 2023), ‘Blood On Your Hands‘ by Grace Joy Howarth (Southwark Playhouse 2024, Cockpit Theatre 2022). Short films include ‘Meat Cute‘ by Bibi Lucille, ‘Push‘ by Julia Melinek, ‘Swipe Left‘ by Bella Glanville and ‘Yoghurt is Not Sexy‘ by Jessica Friend.

RESOURCES

• Why a leading bird flu expert isn’t convinced that the risk H5N1 poses to people has declined
• A Cruel Way to Control Bird Flu? Poultry Giants Cull and Cash In.
• “Assisted Suicide,” “Euthanasia,” and “Depopulation” — What’s in a name?
• Exes and Ohs Substack
• Patch Plays website
• Patch Plays on Instagram
• Patch Plays on X (formerly Twitter)
• Patch Plays on Facebook
• [e-mail]
• Grace Howarth on Instagram
• Anastasia Bunce on Instagram
• Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Skill Sparks
• Scarlet Spark’s FREE Leadership Skills Workshops
• Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Tools
• Scarlet Spark website

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

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This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision-makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.