Flood Sensor Aunty is about a flood sensor working at her aunt’s chai shop who really wants to be a movie star. Halfway between really funny devised theater and community disaster prevention, this show is about how the best way to protect yourself from flooding, climate change, and despair is through knowing your neighbors. All performances are free and audiences should leave with bellies full of (oat milk) chai, doubles, flood alarms, headlamps, and calls to action about flood resiliency.


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Locations: We perform at brown public spaces and chai shops across Queens and Long Island as a strategy for culturally competent flood resiliency training (hopefully reaching aunties!) To learn more about the performances, scroll through the right side of the page!

Community partners: Our performances have been funded and supported by NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts), Queens College, Rebuild by Design, the Wellesley College Reperatory Theater, the Waterfront Alliance, NYC Emergency Management, Huntington Arts Council, Street Works / Make Justice Normal , Culture Push, and Chhaya CDC. 

Credits: This performance is directed and written by Sabina Sethi Unni. This performance was co-written and devised by Val Ramirez, Isa Nicdao, Ray Jordan Achan, Alex Scelso, Spoorti Hegde, Mehrnaz Tiv, Jess Balgobin, and Janggo Mahmud, with documentation by Sarah Drepaul, Jesse Herndon, and Andre Fernandez, sound design by Sriram Iyer, graphic design by Kruttika Susarla and Abbie Preston, and tea by Miles Kirsch.

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About me, Sabina

Richmond Hill September 21st, 2024

We performed to an audience of 100 at the Richmond Hill Arts Festival, the very first performance in that park and stage. Halfway through, we were interrupted by a wedding, and the groom’s baraat (with a dhol and tassa outcompeting our actors for noise) lasted the entire second act. 

Click for coverage by the Urban Design Forum

The festival was hosted by Chhaya CDC, the Urban Design Forum, Studio For, and Hive Public Space.

Photos by Cameron Blaylock and Jesse Herndon.
Lieutenant Frank McConnell Park



Astoria September 28th, 2024

We performed to over 200 audience members at Qahwah House in Astoria, Queens. Of course, it rained that day, so we set up makeshift tents and audience members graciously joined us for a drizzy performance. We were also joined by Rana Abdelhamid of Malikah, who gave us a call to action on climate justice and international solidarity.

Click here for coverage from Rana Abdelhamid

Photos by Jesse Herndon.
Qahwah House



Jackson Heights September 22nd, 2024

We performed in the dreamy Travers Park ampitheater to an audience of almost 100 who braved through the boiling 

This festival was hosted by StreetWorks and Make Justice Normal as part of the Climate Art Festival on 34th Avenue Open Street, for Climate Week. It featured one other live performance by Queens Collective Kaleidospace.

Click here for coverage by Emergency Management


Photos by Brentton Wilson, Cindy Trinh, and Derrick Seymore
Travers Park



Floral Park (Nassau County)   September 29th, 2024

PYO Chai is a unique third space in Long Island, providing chai and bubble tea to young, brown Long Islanders. We were honored to perform for over 50 audience members who mostly live in Long Island - and share resources about flood resiliency to an area of New York that suffers routine flooding.

Click  here for coverage by PYO Chai.

Photos by Jesse Herndon.
PYO Chai



Long Island City Summer and fall 2024

Devising is a (sometimes not always) liberatory theater practice that allows for non-hierarchical theater creation, co-writing, ensemble driven work, and incorperating real lives and stories into the work. We met and devised scenes and characters for a few weeks, and then I scrambled our brains into a script, and then we rehearsed for many more weeks. Uniquely, our group of devisers consisted of both performers as well as community organizers that work and live in the neighborhoods we perform in (and some designers and other team members joined occasionally).

Photos by Sarah Drepaul
Rainy Day Plays Studio