Episode 24

full
Published on:

28th Apr 2026

24. Laura Dunn — Live! Prophets! Live!

Subscribe to Chrysalis at https://www.johnfiege.earth/

Show notes: https://www.johnfiege.earth/24-laura-dunn-live-prophets-live

Listen to Chrysalis on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Captivate.

If you’re concerned about what we’re doing to the climate and ecosystems around the planet and you’ve ever expressed those concerns to anyone, you probably know what it feels like to be seen as a Cassandra—the pessimist, the naysayer, the party pooper of Greek mythology. But the part of the myth we often forget is that Cassandra was a truth teller. She was right!

The theater artist and activist, Laura Dunn, has brought the myth of Cassandra into an uproarious cabaret musical, called Live! Prophets! Live!, where Cassandra is a scientist who journeys into the underworld, where she meets many other truth-telling, trouble-making, prophetic woman from across the ages and confronts the very modern problems of climate change and ecological catastrophe.

Listen to Chrysalis on Apple Podcats

Laura Dunn is a multitalented theater artist: a playwright, actor, musician, composer, and activist. She’s also a poet and recipient of the Oregon Literary Fellowship from Literary Arts. Through her nonprofit theater company in Portland, Oregon, called The Broken Planetarium, she creates original productions that bring together professional artists and people new to theater. This kind of theater is all too rare, but it has a special ability to build community and draw more people into creativity and performance—and into a fun, campy, important discussion about how to change the world for the better.

Listen on Spotify

Photo Courtesy of Laura Dunn

I'm John Fiege, and this is Chrysalis. You can subscribe at johnfiege.earth, where you will also find show notes and all episodes of the podcast, plus my writing, photographs, and films.

Listen on YouTube

I recorded this conversation in November of 2022. You can see Laura's lastest productions at brokenplanetarium.org.

Here is Laura Dunn.

Recommended Readings & Media:

Credits

This episode was researched by Lydia Montgomery and edited by Sarah Westrich, with additional editing by Isabella Fleming, Arthur Koenig, and Marta Kondratiuk. Music is by Daniel Rodriguez Vivas. Mixing is by Morgan Honaker.

-----------

Subscribe at https://www.johnfiege.earth/

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for Chrysalis with John Fiege

About the Podcast

Chrysalis with John Fiege
A newsletter and podcast about transformation in the face of global ecological crisis.
I’m a professor, filmmaker, and storyteller interested in the question of how we can transform ourselves—as individuals, as societies, as an entire species—in ways that allow our planet’s ecological systems to thrive.

I began this work through the study of environmental history and cultural geography. I then became a filmmaker and photographer focused on stories of transformation in the face of ecological peril.

Most recently, I launched the Chrysalis newsletter and podcast to have conversations with a wide variety of environmental thinkers, as well as to share my writing on our relationship with the natural world.

My newsletter, podcast, and photographs are available for free to anyone. By becoming a paid subscriber on johnfiege.earth—what we call a Butterfly Subscriber—you can also stream my films and post on the community comments section of the newsletter. Your support provides essential resources for the newsletter and podcast to grow and remain free and ad-free for everyone.

Humanity has been a very hungry caterpillar, eating everything in sight. Can we now transform into a beautiful butterfly ready to pollinate the flowers, rather than just eat the leaves?

This is the question that animates me—and I believe that digging deeply into the question itself can catalyze transformation.

About your host

Profile picture for John Fiege

John Fiege