I Can't Believe It's Not Shakespeare

Green Theater

It was recently announced that major construction on Henry Miller’s Theater (the first new Broadway house in 20 years) is finally set to open in September with a production of Bye Bye Birdie.  The bigger news: it’s an all green performance space.  With walls made of recycled material, waterless urinals, and local materials making up the marble flooring, all that’s missing is a giant light board-powering hamster wheel (you know, because actors love running on hamster wheels).

While the construction effort has been a big step for the green movement in the theater world, I wonder, is it enough?  Whether or not Roundabout Theater Company chooses to maintain their green standards for productions, it’s important for any theater company to be ecologically conscious and Earth-friendly.  It may cost an extra penny (and even a penny makes and theater producer sweat), but with a few ground rules, it’s easy for a production to leave it’s green thumbprint.

A few ideas after the jump.

1.  Only accept digital headshots.
I know you think you look cool walking around with your binder of headshots, deciding the fates of actors everywhere…don’t be that guy.  Stick to digital headshots and save the paper.

2.  Print on used paper or double-sided when you can.
So you accidentally printed 30 copies of the wrong document.  There’s a silver lining: flip it over and print new pages.  Don’t let precious paper go to waste!

3.  Most trash serves a second purpose.
Give everything a second glance.  Most likely what you’re about to throw away might make the perfect prop/set dressing/storage device/hat.

4.  Design for disassembly.
If you’re lucky enough to have a set (and you should be, you can put *something* together), find a way to save your supplies.  Use screws and nails and anything else that can easily come apart.  It’s the set for your next show too.

5.  Collect other people’s garbage.
I had a friend who needed over 50 empty beer bottles for a scene.  Yes, he could have bought them, but instead, he sucked it up and sorted through people’s garbage.  Sometimes you have to be that guy.  Save money and use less.

6.  Ban Styrofoam.
This isn’t about dignity here folks.  Buy some plastic cups for your free wine and clean’em out afterwards.  We won’t think less of you if you’re trying to save the planet.

7.  Keep everything, you’ll use it again.
But that’s pretty much a given, isn’t it?

It also doesn’t hurt to use green as a way of promotion.  All green production?  Good for you!  People might want to promote you for that hard work.

For other tips on going green, check out this blog which I unfortunately found after writing this post: The Green Theater

They also have a really cool calculator to tabulate your carbon footprint: Check it out!