Advanced Season Planning May Facilitate Sustainable Stagecraft Goals

We are looking ahead to our season opening and to the new opportunities it will provide for realizing our sustainable stagecraft plans. Our first production, A Year With Frog and Toad, is being built to store, rather than to dump or recycle. Childsplay is moving towards a minimum three-year season planning cycle that will enable us to better predict the lifespan and possible repetition of productions. This, in turn, will help us save and reuse scenic elements (or even entire sets) that would previously have been sent to the dumpster.

We are also beginning to plan for a community-wide meeting this fall to discuss materials sourcing and recycling. Another theatre in town just received a grant to explore a co-op (similar to the Austin project discussed on this blog!) and we will look for opportunities to partner with them on bulk materials purchases and other projects.

We have heard from at least one theatre that is interested in replicating some of our work in their own community. We would be happy to share any of our information, as well as our fabulous GIOS consulting team, with any community or theatre that is interested in starting a sustainable stagecraft conversation. Just contact us at arunfola@childsplayaz.org or jmillinger@childsplayaz.org for more information.

Finally, we are looking forward to the spring USITT meeting, where we will be sharing our sustainable stagecraft learning in a special session. We hope to see many of you there!

--Jenny Millinger & Anthony Runfola, Childsplay