RIVEN follows Melina and Alessandra, two black women from the global south working at a waste picking cooperative – a place where recycled materials are sorted and people are rescued from neglect. Side by side, our characters share not only a lifetime of sorting the accumulated discards of a society that has failed them, but also a promise: to survive and to stay bound to each other.

RIVEN was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil – a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country’s recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world. Host venue Sure We Can alone counts more than 1200 pickers as part of their community.

Conceived by Marina Zurita and created in collaboration with Laila Garroni and Josanna Vaz, this site-specific production staged at an actual recycling center in Brooklyn explores themes of environmental justice, accumulation of waste, and complexities of hope. It stars Josanna Vaz as Melina and Dee Beasael as Alessandra with live music by percussion ensemble Mambembé and dancer Daniella Macre. The production team includes Acadia Barrengos (co-director and movement director), Patricia Marjorie (costume and prop design), Luísa Galatti (marketing director), Erin Gray (stage manager), and Giorgia Valentin (producer).