By Sam McDonald
Imagine a world where a heroic crab named Mr. Blue and his mermaid pal Reign save Norfolk’s waterways from environmental peril — as they are cheered on by a chorus of talking oysters.
That is the vision behind a new educational puppet show called “The Amazing Neighborhood Mollusk Adventure” developed at Ƶ by an interdisciplinary team of students, faculty and community contributors.
The show is tailor made for students in kindergarten through third grade from neighborhoods near the University.
The Project ANiMA creative team hopes that quirky characters — made with thread, felt and googly eyes — will encourage young people to take on serious problems like pollution and sea level rise.
And if Mr. Blue and friends tell their story with enough humor and optimism, they might make a cultural splash.
“We’re hoping this will be the ‘Hamilton’ of children’s climate resilience theater,” project originator and the University English Lecturer David Robledo, Ph.D. said.
Mr. Blue, Reign and their neighbors — a brown pelican named Esperanza, clumps of marsh grass named Tina and Flora, and a chorus of happy oysters called the Reef Rascals — were created to convince young people that they have the power to make a difference.
“My theory is that solutions have to be local,” said Dr. Robledo who previously taught science communication at MIT. “If this gets big, it will make an impact.”
A of “The Amazing Neighborhood Mollusk Adventure” is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, May 9 at Norfolk’s Ryan Resilience Lab.
A Rising Concern
Behind the scenes, Project ANiMA aims to connect local mollusk and shoreline recovery efforts with broader climate and environmental goals by linking scientists and students through STEM education.
“Our goal is to deliver local scientific knowledge to local areas that can use the information,” said Dr. Robledo, who was named a Resilience Fellowship from Elizabeth River Project in 2024. “We are hoping to see actual measurable improvements with the community shorelines where we perform the play. If you are interested in this goal, we want to work with you.”
Coastal resilience is a serious issue for many communities in Eastern Virginia.
Low elevation combined with global sea level rise and other factors have left Norfolk particularly at risk of losing shoreline habitat. Pollution makes matters worse. It’s likely that health and prosperity of Norfolk residents will be diminished if climate-driven events intensify, experts say.
While Dr. Robledo dreamed up the original concept for Project ANiMA, much of the credit for realizing the vision goes to Sydney Walker and other Ƶ students from the Monarch Humanities Internship Academy. Dr. Robledo credits Sydney as a co-founder of the project.
A technical writing master’s student, Sydney creates fiber art in her free time. She sewed the show’s puppets, refined the story’s focus and led script development.
Sydney noted that she’s a former sonar technician for the Navy and said the project suits her perfectly. “I’m definitely passionate about the ocean,” she said.
She devoted countless hours to Project ANiMA — cataloging data on ecological challenges of local waterways, documenting her process for puppet creation, glueing, trimming, writing and editing — all in the name of something bigger than entertainment.
“The idea behind the project is to educate local children and start a foundation of environmental literacy for their local ecosystem,” Sydney said. “We want to create a foundation that can be built on as the children get older — one that promotes responsible consumer choices and lifelong environmental stewardship.”
Science + Communication
While puppet theatre serves as the public face of Project ANiMA, student-led research supplies the effort’s heartbeat.
The play’s setting was determined by shoreline measurement data from the University’s Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience, compiled with help from Dr. Robledo and Zlatka Rebolledo-Sánchez, an Ƶ graduate research assistant in biological sciences.
Prior research by Zlatka on socioeconomic and environmental flooding factors helped the team identify the water-logged Norfolk neighborhoods where Project ANiMA’s story is set.
“I am very interested in scientific communication,” said Zlatka, who in addition to her work at the University serves as a Virginia Sea Grant Fellow. As a fellow, she stressed communicating the environmental importance of salt marshes to different audiences.
“The project is a great opportunity to continue my passion for science communication,” Zlatka said.
Also, Sydney conducted significant humanities research. She interviewed scientists and spoke with puppeteers around the nation before ever picking up needle and thread. She documented each step to help others who might want to develop a similar play.
Project leaders want Project ANiMA to be a pathfinder, a template used by coastal communities across the country.
Curtain Up!
After more than a year of brainstorming, data wrangling, writing, stitching and rehearsing, first preview performances of “The Amazing Neighborhood Mollusk Adventure” are ready to roll.
Elizabeth River Project’s Ryan Resilience Lab — the location of the first preview — supported the project from the start.
Victoria Dunch, the lab’s resilience research manager, described the play as creative and unique. She helped by supporting grant applications and organizing community events where Norfolk citizens helped to shape the story and characters.
“I love how participatory the process has been,” Dunch said, “and I think it's great to create something that aims to engage children for broader, but local impacts.”
Ultimately, Sydney hopes the story will inform and reassure.
Research shows that children are susceptible to climate anxiety, she said. “We want to build foundational knowledge that's from a place of empowerment.”
Engagement can act as a powerful antidote to despair, Dr. Robledo said.
“How do we jump in and address problems that communities face?” he asked. “The Elizabeth River Project can’t limit carbon dioxide in the river, but it can work on resilience of the built environment. We can develop approaches and strategies to offset or mitigate climate change problems.”
Cue Mr. Blue and his cast of coastal critters. It’s showtime.
“We’re not focusing on fear-based messages,” Dr. Robledo said. “It’s a play about solutions.”