UC Santa Cruz

Towards the end of summer in 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex Fires began, covering vast swaths of both Santa Cruz County and San Mateo County in the state of California and causing long lasting damage. As we approach the three year anniversary of the fire, only a small portion of the homes that were destroyed have been rebuilt. In this thesis, I argue that this issue is impacted by multiple sources, both structural and interpersonal, and thus propose an artistic vision that utilizes multiple forms to contend with this multiplicity. This ultimately resulted in the creation of Smoked Out: Watching Them Scrape Our Home Away, a documentary piece composed of three parts: a verbatim theatrical performance composed of interviews with individuals going through the rebuilding process; a mobile game that explores some of the bureaucracy involved; and a forum in which audiences can contend with the issues at play. These are informed by larger traditions of documentary theater, serious games, and Theater of the Oppressed, respectively. While the work did not fully prepare audiences to contend with the systemic issues at play, it otherwise successfully shows the potential for future documentary practice that utilizes multiple mediums in conjunction with one another in order to approach complex issues.