Climate activists with the Extinction Rebellion group in New York City made several interruptions at a Broadway performance of Henrik Ibsen’s ‘An Enemy of the People’ starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli on Thursday night, March 14.Ibsen’s ‘An Enemy of the People’ was written in 1882 and tells the story of a small-town doctor who tries to warn that the public water system is contaminated but is opposed by the local authorities.The first interruption came from a protester standing in a stairwell between seats saying “I object to the silencing of scientists.” He then apologizes for interrupting the performance and begins to talk about climate change. Michael Imperioli, staying in character, demands that he leave before coming off the stage and helping another man push the protester up the stairs and toward the door.As he is shoved up the stairwell, the protester yells that “the oceans are rising and will swallow this city and this entire theater” and says “Broadway will not survive on a dead planet.”Another protester disrupted the show to highlight the case of Joanna Smith and Tim Martin, climate activists facing prison sentences and large fines after defacing a sculpture by Edgar Degas at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in April, 2023, and a third shown in this footage, told the theater that “governments have failed us.”In a statement, Extinction Rebellion NYC said the action “highlights the failure of governments and corporations to treat climate and ecological breakdown as the crisis it is.”“The extremely short-term incentives of our key institutions — corporations and governments, which respectively function on quarterly profits and periodic elections, disregard the long-term dangers to our survival. This system steals from future generations by burning fossil fuels at industrial scale, sustaining a system that primarily benefits the few,” they said.Imperioli addressed the incident in a post on social media, saying: “Tonight was wild …. no hard feelings, Extinction Rebellion crew. Michael is on your side but Mayor Stockmann is not. Much love.” Credit: Extinction Rebellion NYC via Storyful