Theatre Professor Hollace Starr‘s adaptation of Lewis Hetherington’s “no one is coming to save us” premiered at the Malibu campus in the Lindhurst Theatre on Jan. 27. The production ran for a total of six shows and closed Jan. 31.
“no one is coming to save us” follows a group of friends caught in a life-altering forest fire that try to push forward while the world falls apart in front of their eyes. The Pepperdine Scotland program first performed the production for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024.
The show starred junior Mandy Tatum as Maddy, a carefree girl who just wants to have fun on top of the mountain with her friends, and junior Kysiah Tapia as Lily, Maddy’s little sister, who’s too worried about injustice in the world for her own sake.
The play touches on current issues such as wildfires and climate change, showing how they not only impact communities as a whole but can also affect the individuals within them on a deeply personal level.
“This can be like a hot button topic and a hot button topic on this campus right now in this era that we’re in,” Starr said. “I’ve had to be really thoughtful about what it means to present this play right now because it’s a pretty controversial topic sometimes. To me, what should be controversial is that climate change is controversial. I think the only reason it’s controversial is because there are corporate interests that stand to lose.”
Though uncomfortable to talk about, Starr said it was important to start conversations about these topics, especially in Malibu and its surrounding communities after the Palisades, Eaton and Franklin fires last year. She hopes the play could open up or add to such conversations in a somewhat delicate way.
“It’s important, even if we don’t have answers, to have conversations and that we’re having conversations all the time,” Starr said. “We’re having conversations online, we’re having conversations with one another, and it’s not that every conversation has to be heavy and deep. Some should be lighthearted and connected to a sense of fun.”
Starr also said climate change should not be political.
“We’re called to something higher here at Pepperdine,” Starr said. “And I would like to think that we could have open conversations about climate change and we’re not politicized, because it’s quite suspect to me that climate change has become politicized.”
The production featured a series of talkbacks after each show, except for the Saturday matinee. The talkbacks highlighted topics such as sustainability, climate change and the lasting impact of the fires on the community.
The Jan. 27 talkback reflected on the takeaways from last year’s fires and focused on how to be resilient in the face of tragedy moving forward.
On Jan. 28, sophomore Zaria Williams, assistant director of the production, interviewed Pepperdine Biology alumna Sophia Zummo (’22) about her field of work and how she’s using her degree today.
On Jan. 29, English Professor Martin Premoli, Political Science Professor Christopher Soper, Biology Professor Florybeth La Valle and head of the Sustainability major Chris Doran spoke about environmental policy, coral reefs, sustainability and other ways audience members can get involved in helping the environment.
Doran said that although we are already seeing the adverse effects of climate change right before our eyes, not many people take it seriously enough.
“You need more plays like this to increase people’s seriousness of the issue [climate change],” Doran said. “It runs very low on the issues of importance until we can shift that narrative so that it becomes one of the central issues that voters are voting on.”
On Jan. 30, the talkback informed audience members on how they could get involved in helping the environment. The discussion featured IMC Professor Sarah Fischbach to speak about her ongoing projects, as well as Art Professor Kate Parsons, who wants to help bridge the gap between art and science.
On Jan. 31, Malibu City Council member Haylynn Conrad, former Malibu Mayor Zuma Jay and active city volunteer Tim Horton discussed their thoughts on climate change and the ways they are actively helping.
Soper said at this point, individual efforts aren’t enough to combat climate change — we need to take action as a society.
“On one hand, no amount of recycling is going to save the planet,” Soper said. “It does take structural change. Structural change is hard.”
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Contact Nicolette Aramian via email: nicolette.aramian@pepperdine.edu