Adapted from the short story by beloved science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin, Sur follows a 1909 expedition to the South Pole by a group of women driven by a passion to see Antarctica with their own eyes. The women travel in secret – theirs is a radical plan, considering the constraints placed by society and family. They travel by ship, set up camp on the ice, pull sledges, scale glaciers, and set out to reach the South Pole. What happens next, they promise never to tell. The story is presented as a report, a factual recounting of a journey. Could it have really happened? And if not, then why?

Now, in 2025, our collective of women brings Le Guin’s fantastical but harsh Antartica to life, transforming the Ellen Stewart Theater into a living breathing world of icebergs, glaciers, blizzards, and horizonless expanses.

The project (initiated by Onni Johnson, who was carrying the desire to bring the New Yorker short story to stage since it first came out in the 80), was carried out through a period of two years. The group of queer and fem people gathered for the creation, drew inspiration by Le Guin’s characters’ leaderless expedition, and attempted to work as a collective. 

I came in this role initially as video designer, but due to my love for LeGuin’s worlds, but mainly because of my research interests in commons, feminist making and collective processes, I got involved on many levels, from dramaturgy to facilitation and, eventually to the making of the Antarctic world, presented at the beautiful Helen Stewart theatre space.