Very Merry Theatre's Waterways Stage – Connecting Youth to the Watershed Through Theatre.

They say you can’t truly learn something until you can teach it—but what about if you perform it? In the free K–12 program, Waterways Stage, students get to do just that. Since 2015, Very Merry Theatre, has teamed up with watershed groups to educate students on issues like plastic pollution, oil spills, nutrient runoff, and aquatic food webs. Scientists from the partner organizations plan lessons for classrooms that students then use to make their own plays about those topics. LCSG has been working with Very Merry since 2022 and this year, we were able to host the teachers involved on the UVM R/V Marcelle Melosira.

“We have been a program for a decade, and this marks our first ever Waterways Stage welcome ‘in person educator experience,’” shared Lauren Larken with Very Merry Theatre. “From the positive feedback I have received it seems that we will make a tradition in the future of fun opportunities like this to immerse ourselves learning in the elements.”

On Monday April 14, the students were able to show off their plays at the Waterways Stage Festival in Burlington’s Very Merry Theatre at the ONE at 20 Allen Street. Eight classes from four counties performed plays whose topics spanned riparian buffer establishment, to plastic cleanups, to water politics through a mythical fairy universe. The student creativity during the performances was unmatched with interpretive dances, poems, and many songs including an original song “I’m Still Swimming” in the tune of Elton John’s I’m Still Standing by a first-grade class from CP Smith.

The short plays defined key issues within a watershed informed by the experts at organizations like LCSG and solved the problem through collective actions like protests, cleanups, and educational information.

This was the tenth annual Waterways Stage festival and the biggest yet. With over 200 students and a full house of attendees, the performances went for nearly two hours followed by a sponsored pizza lunch from Leonardos and Pingala Cafe.

“It was a pleasure getting to visit students in their classrooms and introduce them to watershed concepts,” said Sabrina Koetter, Watershed Alliance graduate student. If you’re interested in the Waterways Stage program, check it out on the Very Merry Theatre website and make sure to register for next year!