If you’ve ever wondered where those buckets of rainwater end up, you’ll get your chance tomorrow night. On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford (4649 Sunnyside Avenue North), writer and performer Stokley Towles will put on a free performance titled Stormwater: Life in the Gutter.
Photo credit John J. Little Sr.
The one-hour piece will offer a gutter’s eye view of Seattle’s drainage system and of Seattle Public Utilities’ efforts to monitor stormwater flow.
From Lori Patrick with Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs:
Meet Ellen, a gutter detective. Find out what a floating river is and meet James who observes them. Learn about John’s trips into the bowels of the city and what he finds there. Ponder whether beavers should be on the city’s payroll. Discover who tracks toxins before they poison Lake Union.
In partnership with SPU, Towles has addressed a number of issues that affect city-dwellers; other pieces he’s written and performed have looked at how garbage is handled (Trash Talk in 2010) and the city water supply (Waterlines in 2009). “As a result of doing these projects, I now see a municipality as a web of worlds that are visible and invisible …,” Towles wrote in his Stormwater performance proposal. “On the other hand there is this space backstage or behind the curtain. It’s the infrastructure, the teaming underbelly – the companies and agencies that provide the very important services of our day-to-day survival.”
Oh that's very interesting.
Wow, I've always wondered where all that storm water goes. I know they are drained onto a drainage system, but I have no idea where they go exactly. This would be a wonderful chance to see for myself.