Climate change impacts, such as droughts, wildfires and floods, are increasing, particularly affecting vulnerable groups living near river and coastal areas. Global climate action narratives are problematic with top-down doom and gloom narratives, which often fail to meet targets; green growth and de-growth narratives, criticised for unequal access to green innovation and slow change; and transformative 'win-win' narratives, involving bottom-up activities like increasing blue-green infrastructure. These narratives create barriers to social learning when trade-offs in implementation are ignored. Climate action opportunities (e.g. after the extreme Summer 2007 floods) are also fleeting, often overlooked by politicians and media. However, no global plan has emerged to consider future climate impacts or transfer these lessons elsewhere. Urgent action is needed to find new ways of communities co-creating their own local place-based climate action narratives. Researchers argue that local people, being the most informed about climate impacts, need to be central in decision-making. Despite this need for local voices, community-engaged methods for climate action are lacking. Existing infrastructure approaches have failed to adequately restore and conserve resources for vulnerable groups facing climate stress. Consequently, local people need emotional, financial, and inclusive support to implement immediate and effective climate actions aligned with their local knowledge. The new interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary theatre-based approach in Climate Collaboratorium offers novelty, high risk, and high reward. The project focuses on water security issues affecting vulnerable communities, particularly youth and seniors living near rivers. In the UK, river-side towns of Tewkesbury and Shrewsbury are working on flood resilience and water security plans amidst worsening climate extremes. However, intergenerational perspectives and involvement in these conversations are limited. The proposed approach centres on knowledge-exchange rather than monitoring, involving vulnerable voices in creation of artistic products that reflect their experiences of climate change. This approach aims to blend scientific and local narratives, promoting bottom-up climate action and shifting responsibilities and agency from environmental managers and scientists to local communities. As nations strive to tackle water challenges, four teams (Canada, Germany, UK and US) are joining forces to create a skilled cohort of academics/professionals, ready to explore how climate action can enhance infrastructure, water, and livelihood security within specific river catchments at local scale, and how local teams can share insights to grow global lessons and action. The team includes social, climate, natural, and policy scientists; global climate change data networks; theatre designers/actors, directors/scriptwriters; Indigenous scholars; bias/inclusion experts; and environmental professionals in four river/estuaries. The UK team combines drama, geography and hydroclimate expertise to address water security and climate change adaptation. The team, with extensive experience in environmental management and community-based interdisciplinary research, is planning to co-create a performance piece using stories from flood-affected communities. Their approach focuses on community engagement and inclusive participatory research. They are partnering with climate network managers to plan climate change materials as workshop prompts, co-produce adaptation/mitigation strategies based on scientific evidence, and plan sharing of these co-produced intergenerational options with international partners. Their interdisciplinary background in community theatre, hydrological sciences and community water management allows them to work with communities to create place-based action that addresses risks to living standards through resilient water security and climate resilience.