Wrapping it up: Bon Voyage, A-ha! Round 1!

When we started the first round of the A-ha! program, all anyone could see was a bright horizon of innovation and creation. And of course, innovation never ends, it just keeps right on moving – Seema Sueko of Mo'olelo Performing Arts Center has become a fixture on the “green theatre” circuit, the Playwrights Center is taking time to evaluate their trailers project, Theater Grottesco soldiers on in pursuit of an alternative capital campaign model, and Woolly Mammoth is reporting on their final sabbaticals.

But A-ha! is about more than brilliant success – it’s about the process, and the challenges. And between you and me, the process is what took all of us by surprise. With projects so exciting and groundbreaking, it’s hard to foresee any turbulence on the horizon, but of course, the challenges are the parts of the process that teach us, and stay with us… for better or for worse. If you happen to be joining us at the TCG National Conference, a few of our A-ha! veterans will be discussing these sticky, hair-pulling parts of innovation in the breakout session: Turning Failure into Opportunity: Navigating the Unexpected. It’s a brave group, and we hope to see you there. (And if you haven’t registered for the TCG National Conference, sign up now!)

Thank you for taking this first leg of the A-ha! journey with us. We look forward to sharing more stories with you!

Childsplay Hosts Sustainable Stagecraft Summit

Read about Childsplay’s planning of summits to find solutions to Sustainable Stagecraft, and take part in their survey this month…

Our search for practical, affordable solutions to sustainable stagecraft is being led by a fantastic team of graduate students from Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS). We have been meeting weekly to develop a shared vocabulary and a framework for conversations about the constraints – cost, availability, quick turnarounds, institutional priorities, etc. – that govern purchasing decisions in our shops.

With the help of the GIOS team, we are busy preparing for our first of three Sustainable Stagecraft Summits. The February convening will focus on the sourcing and recycling of materials used in our shops. Childsplay will bring together theatre professionals, manufacturers and recyclers to explore the following topics: where are we currently purchasing our materials and what is their origin (source); what sustainable materials currently exist in the marketplace that are directly comparable to our current materials and how might we reduce costs through bulk purchasing; are there other existing sustainable (and affordable!) products that could be adapted to theatrical applications; and how could we alter our preparation of materials to make them easier to recycle. We will build upon the excellent work of Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company (see their entries on the A-ha! Blog) and the Rainforest Relief Fund’s Safe Sets Campaign in providing a framework for materials discussions. We will also hope to have a practical application session during the summit, spending part of the day in a shop environment experimenting with samples of substitute products.

We need your help, too. In the next few days, Childsplay will survey the field to better understand the quantity of materials used in theatrical scenic construction, the potential buying power of the industry, and any current sustainable purchasing and recycling activities at individual theatres. Thanks for your help – we will share the results in our next blog!

Here is the link to the survey: Childsplay Sustainable Stagecraft Survey


--Jenny Millinger, Director of Strategic Initiatives & Anthony Runfola, Production Manager, Childsplay

Wrapup from Mo`olelo

The Round 1 A-ha! projects are coming to a close - today, Seema Sueko from Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company reflects on their recently-completed A-ha! project. Read it... then download the green guidelines and score your theatre!

Farewell Think it, Do it
From Seema Sueko, Artistic Director of Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company

The Think it, Do it experience has been an incredible one for Mo`olelo, culminating in December 2009 with the completion of The Green Theater Choices Toolkit. This 24-page reference guide that rates the environmental impact of materials used in theater production can be downloaded from our website here: http://electrictemple.net/green.php.

After our last Think it, Do it blog post in August 2009, we received some terrific and detailed feedback on the initial design of the Toolkit and decided to replace the + and – ratings with narrative information on the pros and cons of each material. No product is 100% good nor 100% bad (ok some are 100% bad) for the environment, and so we realized that the narrative information could be helpful to designers and producers as they make their design choices.

Our hope is that this Toolkit can be used not only to help theater practitioners select better materials for their work, but also by manufacturers and vendors to see the development opportunity that lies before them for environmentally friendlier products. Ideally, as more theaters demand better products, manufacturers will create them and our demand will drive down the costs.

Mo`olelo rated our own 2009 productions against the Toolkit and learned that we still have tremendous work to do to make our productions more environmentally friendly. We discovered that we had achieved a "4" top rating in areas of Audience Interface (marketing and printed materials), Metals (reused), and Ceramics (reused); a "3" on paints (low VOC); a "2" on woods (MDO); and a "1" on Textile Treatments (rit dye). As we work on our 2010 productions, we will use the scorecard to make stronger production choices.

Mo`olelo's participation in the Think it, Do it program brought with it many unexpected opportunities, including participating in the CUNY panel on Theater and the Environment in April 2009, the LDI Green Day Conference in November 2009, and the TCG Fall Forum "Green Opportunity" Breakout Session in November 2009. At this last Forum, we learned from Charlie Deull, Co-Chair of Broadway Goes Green, that Mo`olelo's greening work which began in 2007 served as a valuable blueprint for BGA as they launched their efforts to green Broadway. In addition, they have posted Mo`olelo's Green Theater Choices Toolkit on their website and have heard from others in the field that they are using it, too.

There were a number of individuals and organizations who contributed their talents to the development of the Toolkit. Brown & Wilmanns Environmental, LLC created the green choices methodology and conducted the in-depth research on the materials. Scenic Designer David F, Weiner, Costume Designer Jeannie Galioto, and Lighting Designer Jason Bieber contributed their knowledge in their respective fields. Bob Usdin of Showman Fabricators provided helpful feedback throughout the process. And most importantly, this project truly would never have been completed without the funding support from MetLife and TCG. Mo`olelo had applied to a couple local funders in San Diego, however they had difficulty supporting a proposal that stood outside of the traditional funding boxes of "arts" or "environment." The A-ha! Program embraced the opportunity.

Green Feedback!

Seema Sueko from Mo'Olelo invites your feedback on the latest version of the Green Theater Toolkit! (Available at http://www.tcg.org/pdfs/grants/Toolkits.pdf - be patient, it may take a moment to download.)

Hello Think it, Do it, Blog it readers:

We've posted the updated Green Theater Toolkit scorecards for Wood Products; Plastics and Foams; Metals; and Glass, Ceramics, Earthen Materials here. Please take a look and post your comments and feedback – feel free to be as direct as you wish with feedback. These scorecards aren't final, so your ideas will be extremely valuable to their development. If you don't feel comfortable posting your feedback on this public blog, you can email me directly at seema@moolelo.net (please write "Green Theater Toolkit" in the subject line).

Some questions for you to consider:
1) Do you understand the charts below?
2) Is any of this useful for your theater-making process?
3) Are there any materials you wish were on the list; or anything you wish were not on the list?
4) Are there any surprises for you on this list?

Thanks for taking the time to contribute to this project!

Aloha,

Seema Sueko
Artistic Director
Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company

Mo'Olelo: Green Guidelines!

Seema Sueko from Mo'Olelo Performing Arts Company recently checked in about the progress of Mo'Olelo's Aha! project: the Green Theater Choices Toolkit Scorecard. If it all looks a little technical, don't worry, she enlisted the help of Eric Wilmanns of Brown & Wilmanns Environmental to help out with some handy definitions.




















We have a proto-type for the Green Theater Choices Toolkit Scorecard!

Alright, so what is all this stuff? We worked with our Scenic Designer David F. Weiner and the consultants from Brown & Wilmanns Environmental Consulting to evaluate a variety of materials used in scenic design and rate them according to three focus areas: Material, Human Health and End of Show Fate. The above proto-type is just a look at woods. We'll be creating scorecards for metals, foams & plastics, textiles, and a few other areas. This woods scorecard is also not quite done. We're working on making it more user-friendly for designers. I asked Eric Wilmanns of B&W to provide us with some definitions for each of the focus areas. Here's what he shared:

Material
This is an overview of how the material fairs when you consider its total life-cycle impacts. We take into account the conditions and environmental impacts associated with obtaining the basic raw materials, e.g. oil and natural gas, forest management and harvesting, mining, agricultural production etc. We also consider human social issues that effect the production of raw materials, manufacturing, use and end-of-life on affected communities and cultures. We consider the relative amount of energy required for obtaining and manufacturing the product as well as associated green house gas considerations. Note that many of these factors and indicators we rank by qualitative vs. quantitative means. So we might not have absolute numbers for each material in each category – but where we do have numbers we use them.

Human Health
For this focus we look specifically at the human health effects of the manufacture and use of a given material. We consider both acute and chronic health concerns and also if materials or compounds used in the life cycle of the product are carcinogenic or may cause reproductive effects or mimic hormones in the human body (endocrine disruptors). This may sound super science focused and to a large degree we try to do just that. We give more weight to a compound that has issues that can affect the end user but we also look up and downstream in the products life to see if workers are affected there too.

End of Show Fate
We typically call this parameter “end-of-life” but end of show seems more relevant for this project. Here we address the potential for reuse, recycle and reclamation and the potential impacts associated with reuse and/or recycling, land filling and/or incineration.

Every Day is Earth Day on the Aha! Blog

In honor of Earth Day, the Aha! Blog presents the following list of green resources, compiled Seema Sueko, artistic director of Mo’Olelo Performing Arts Center:

Brown & Williams Environmental Consulting

http://www.bw-environmental.com/

The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts

http://www.sustainablepractice.org/

The Cranbrook Court Theatre Company

http://thecctc.wordpress.com/

EcoBags

http://blog.ecobags.com/2008/08/moolelo-performing-arts-company-their.html

EcoTheater Blog

http://ecotheater.wordpress.com/

GreenLine paper company

http://greenlinepaper.com/

Mo’Olelo’s GREEN Theater Categories & Sustainable Guidelines

http://electrictemple.net/green.php

Portland Center Stage’s Gerding Theater

http://www.buildinggreen.com/hpb/overview.cfm?projectid=833

The Recycled Products Co-Op

http://www.recycledproducts.org/

Seema will also be taking part (via Skype!) in tomorrow’s panel on Theatre and the Environment at the Martin E. Segal Center in Manhattan.

Meet Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company

Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company is clear about the questions it is trying to answer with its Think It grant: (1) how do we measure the environmental impact of the practice of theater? (2) is it possible to create theater that does not damage the long-term health of our communities?

Based in San Diego and founded in 2004, Mo’olelo has social consciousness written directly into its mission statement. It didn’t take long for Mo’olelo to notice that producing theatre creates a surprising amount of waste, and that waste was at odds with the company’s socially-conscious focus. Scenic materials bought to create the short-term world of a production depend on de-forestation and high energy impact; toxic paints are dangerous to scenic artists, actors and audiences; and we all know how energy-inefficient stage lights are.

After consulting with LEED-Accredited professionals (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), Mo’olelo developed GREEN Theater Categories and Sustainable Guidelines. Their A-ha! Think It grant will be put towards measuring the toolkit’s success, and then applying the toolkit to Mo’olelo’s own productions in the Spring and Fall of 2009. The final step will be field-wide dissemination of the toolkit for industry feedback.