BY KYLIE VOLAVONGSA | news@queensledger.com
Sabina Sethi Unni has an extended universe in her catch basin.
Which is to say she’s been writing and directing plays on flood safety for the last four years, starting with her 2022 project Rainy Day Play. And Unni’s newest creation, municipal comedy Please Don’t Flush, will soon traverse the boroughs, with shows in Jamaica on September 20 and at the Queens Botanic Garden on September 27.
The story follows a community board as it’s set to vote on a waterfront development that neighbors, plumbers, and seagulls worry will increase inland flooding — until planning for an upcoming gala and the board’s second-vice-chair’s half birthday lead to a derailed vote and a passionate dissenter locked in a bathroom.
This idea came to Unni from her day job as an organizer, through which she regularly attends community board meetings. In particular, what Unni remembered as a “contentious, three-and-a-half hour debate about one tiny change” caught her attention.
“Everyone was very researched and passionate, and I was like, ‘this is a play.’ The way you watch it is very theatrical,” Unni said, “but the work that organizers and council members do can sometimes feel very invisible and mundane. There’s also still a lot of silliness toward the whole institution, so it’s a great device to talk about neighborhood change and flooding.”
In 2020, the National Climate Assessment recategorized NYC as a coastal temperate climate zone to a humid subtropical one, which meant — according to a 2025 statement from the Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency, and Waterfronts — more intense storms and heavier rainfall. The New York State Climate Impacts Assessment also projected that total precipitation in the city could increase between 4% to 11%, a projection that followed events such as Hurricane Ida, in which resulting floods took the lives of 13 New Yorkers.
Accordingly, Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani recently announced an $8.4 million investment to improve flood prevention infrastructure in Queens. That’s not to mention additional initiatives for public flood safety — including, of course, Please Don’t Flush.
Its series of performances are part of Climate Week NYC and a collaboration with the Waterfront Alliance and NYC Emergency Management. Even Jill Cornell — NYCEM community engagement specialist and self-diagnosed “recovering thespian” from her college days — has a spot in the playbill, too.
“We don’t usually use humor in the field of emergency preparedness, but working with Sabina has allowed me to widen our use of humor. And if you come and see the play, you’ll see me making fun of myself,” Cornell said.
In the meantime, Unni advises getting to know your neighbors.
“Whether that’s checking in on them without flood or whether you live in a basement apartment and have contacts to help you go up, not out when it does flood, it’s life-saving. Advocacy doesn’t always help you create these relationships, but adaptive capacity and optimism can help protect your neighborhood from climate emergencies,” she explained.
Oh, and keep your catch basins clean.
Show times, locations, and a form to RSVP are available at pleasedontflush.com.
