A Framework for Experiential Environmental Health Through Theater

Alireza Namayandeh , Shaghayegh Navabpour, Jonathon Howell, Jose Luiz Sarabia, Raphael Kim, Christian Mejia, Ann Lopez, Emily Polk, Rodolfo Dirzo, Scott Fendorf

Extreme weather events, including wildfires, are becoming more frequent, intense, and consequential for human health. Scientific advances have improved our ability to characterize hazards and the socioeconomic constraints shaping exposure, but these dimensions are not always integrated throughout the development of environmental health knowledge. Meanwhile, broader publics, although often not directly affected, may shape the socioeconomic conditions under which exposure occurs yet rarely have opportunities to engage experientially with how exposure unfolds or its consequences. We propose an experiential environmental health framework that uses theater to bring scientists, affected communities, and broader publics into a shared process of investigation, interpretation, and action. We illustrate the framework through Hidden Strawberries, a play developed from a wildfire-smoke toxicity study among California farmworkers, whose prolonged outdoor labor and limited access to protective resources shape exposure. Through interactive performance, audiences encounter how symptoms, labor demands, information gaps, decision-making, and socioeconomic constraints intersect during smoke events. Audience responses illustrate increased empathy and understanding of farmworker exposure, socioeconomic constraints, and health risks, while motivating action. As more people experience the health impacts of extreme weather, such frameworks can transform individual experiences of exposure into shared public understanding and strengthen collective responses.