news | Tuesday May 27, 2025

Hot Off the Press! Hummingbird Is Here!

Hummingbird, the new work of ecotheatre by Elaine Ávila is flitting to a bookstore near you! When forced to choose a topic for a mandatory high school project, Alex sarcastically says “hummingbirds” because one is hovering outside the window. Alex has no idea that this offhand choice will lead them to uncover hidden family histories in a mysterious journal from the 1860s, find an essential role in a community nest-finding network, open up to a vibrant ecosystem, and learn how a hummingbird disrupted a major pipeline project.

An excerpt from Hummingbird:

“SUSAN
This is the Coast Salish Watch House. They asked us to use our
settler privilege to be in solidarity today.

ALEX
What does that mean?

NEST FINDING NETWORK MEMBER 1
Indigenous people get more mistreated when settlers aren’t here –
more arrests, more beatings.

NEST FINDING NETWORK MEMBER 2
If we are here, the hope is that the mistreatment will be less.

ALEX swallows hard.

NEST FINDING NETWORK MEMBER 1
You don’t have to be here if you’re scared. It’s nothing to be
ashamed of.

NEST FINDING NETWORK MEMBER 2
You can totally contribute in other ways.

NEST FINDING NETWORK MEMBER 1
So please, no pressure.

ALEX
(deciding) No. I want to stay. What are we doing, exactly?

NEST FINDING NETWORK MEMBER 1
We’ve found one nest. It stopped the pipeline for breeding season.
If we find more, we can stop it for longer.

ALEX
So if I find another nest, it will help stop the pipeline?

NEST FINDING NETWORK MEMBER 1
Exactly.”

Order your copy of Hummingbird today.