Buried Stories is a community specific interview-based, multi-year theatre piece that explores the history of the Fresh Kills Landfill and investigates its impact on the individuals and community who lived nearby. Theatre artists Jolie Tong and Carrie Ellman-Larsen created Buried Stories by conducting historical and statistical research on the Fresh Kills Landfill and interviewing community members who have a relationship with the site. When developing the script, they used aspects of Ping Chong + Company’s “Undesirable Elements” method of community specific interview-based theatre creation, as well as drew inspiration from the structure of Anna Deavere Smith’s ethnographic pieces Twilight Los Angeles and Fires in the Mirror.