After the Flood

In 1965, a millennial flood tore through the South Platte River valley. It spread more than a mile wide, submerging whole communities, devastating built and natural environments, and taking out nearly every bridge from Sedalia to Commerce City. In the aftermath of the disaster, the city of Littleton defied the Army Corps of Engineers and an act of Congress – instead of ratcheting up control of the waterway by entombing it in a cement channel, the city voted to buy up the land around the river and restore it as a natural floodplain. “After the Flood” takes guests on a 1½ mile journey through the nation’s first urban floodplain park, Littleton’s South Platte Park. The work is a collaboration between Control Group, The Playground Ensemble, and visual artist Adrienne DeLoe, featuring live dance, theatre, and music created collaboratively by the ensemble. The event offers a rich experience of local nature and ecology, interwoven with a climate action parable based in local history from the site. It invites guests to shift and deepen their connection with nature, to recognize their interdependence with the land under their feet and the water flowing through it. Learn about the worst natural disaster in Denver’s history and Littleton’s unexpected reaction to it, while connecting with the site’s exquisite nature. The event is family-friendly – free for children 5 and younger, and appropriate for anyone able to walk, stroller/walk combo, or be carried 1.5 miles over 80 minutes. “After the Flood” is designed for Covid-era safety, with strong health and safety protocols and attention to audience comfort. We are accessibility-focused, and committed to responsive accommodations for anyone interested in attending. For more about health and safety protocols and accessibility, please visit: http://www.controlgroupproductions.org/safety-access-atf/ For questions about safety or accessibility, or to discuss specific accommodations, please contact us prior to purchasing tickets at: patrick@controlgroupproductions.org “After the Flood” is the first work in Control Group’s “Treeline” series – an exploration of the experience of wilderness, and a move to shift our relationship with nature in the Anthropocene era. Over the next several years, “Treeline” will transport audiences physically, virtually, and imaginatively into wildernesses of the American West, including alpine tundra, stark desert, wildland fire burn scars, and a near-future climate apocalypse.