We need champions for our Climate Action-meets-Male Accountability Project!

Award-winning playwright Keith Josef Adkins, award-winning and Broadway actor Francois Battiste, and award-winning actor and director Russell G. Jones are producing a special presentation of Keith's new one-person climate change play THE HEAT WILL KILL EVERYTHING at the Flea Theater in NYC on February 26th and 27th in 2027.

With one actor, several characters and a 75-minute running time, The Heat follows Leeden, a 40-year-old Black professor, as he searches for his 9-year-old daughter during an extreme heat event. In the theatrical spirit of Dennis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson’s An Iliad, The Heat takes us on an odyssey where Leeden ultimately learns his socialization as a man in this world may have chased away his daughter. Through love, struggle, climate obstacles and a desire to change, this play explores what it means when our climate doesn’t just have the ability to unsettle our planet, it also has the ability to unsettle who we are and force us to rethink our entire way of existence.

Despite the challenges of finding institutional support, we are raising funds to ensure our 2027 presentation of The Heat is a success and we're relying on indie theater and our community to make that happen. We need money to hire a creative technologist, pay for a production team, designers, travel, and any rehearsal and venue costs.

The three of us believe in accountability for the harm we've inflicted on this planet and the harm we've inflicted as men and finding ways to change for the better.

We hope you share the same mission.

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Keith Josef Adkins' (playwright) plays include The West End (Steinberg-ATCA Finalist), Pitbulls, Safe House, The Last Saint on Sugar Hill, The People Before the Park. He has been produced Off-Broadway and regionally. TV writing includes Accused (Fox), Outer Banks (Netflix), P-Valley (Starz). Keith's the artistic director of The New Black Fest where he develops new work by writers from the Africa Diaspora. Other Awards: Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, Samuel French's Award for Impact and Activism in Theater, NBT Teer Spirit Award.

Francois Battiste (performer), an award-winning Broadway actor and Julliard grad, has performed in Here We Are - the final musical by the Stephen Sondeheim written by David Ives and directed by Joe Mantello, Raisin in the Sun at the Public Theater as well as the role of Malcolm X in the premiere of One Night in Miami at the Young Vic in London. Francois has appeared on Paradise (Hulu), Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC), Godfather of Harlem (Hulu).

Russell G. Jones (director), an Audelco, Obie and SAG Award-winning actor, originated roles in acclaimed plays by Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks and Stephen Adley Guirgis and has performed on Off-Broadway and regionally. He's had recurring roles on Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), Long Black River (Peacock), Full Circle (HBO Max). Founder of Blind Spot Experiences, Russell champions racial equity through art and dialogue.

The Heat Will Kill Everything has received developmental support from Brava Theater for Women and B.A.C.C.E in San Francisco as well as the National Black Theater in NYC.

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