Riven is a documentary play about waste and the pickers working in a world where nothing is sacred. At the heart of this play are Alessandra and Melina, two waste pickers working at a cooperative somewhere in the global south where they’ve built a relationship based on friendship and survival.
Riven was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil—a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country's recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world.
