News from Childsplay’s Third Sustainable Stagecraft Summit

At our third Sustainable Stagecraft Summit, the participating organizations gathered to review our first two meetings and discuss what can be done to begin to fill the gaps between our desired sustainability and the resources that are available to us now.

Overwhelmingly, the theatres agreed that improving communication during the design process can improve the sustainability of our scenery and the personnel who build it. Working through Midsummer illustrated the great benefit of involving the technical director from the start of the process. However, it will require an understanding on both the designer/director and TD of why they are all in a room together. Some artists may resist the presence of production person so early in the process, while some TD’s might feel like they are there to squash ideas before they’ve had the chance to fully evolve. The real benefit lies in the TD understanding the design on a much deeper level, which could inform the decision making process once the scenic design gets down to “value engineering.” For directors and designers, the TD’s presence early the in process could help to focus ideas on what’s possible given the theatre’s production time line and budget.

It was agreed that any thoughts of sustainability go out the window as opening night draws near. How could the energy that goes into these final weeks be re-directed to the front end of the process? Would it help keep your design process consistently on time? Would this yield a more productive working environment during technical rehearsals?

It was noted that production timelines are often determined by the needs of the box office. It’s difficult to change one process without looking at all processes necessary to produce theatre.

The idea of a centralized depot or co-op (as our colleagues in Austin are creating [Salavge Vanguard]) came up several times. The question of the financial feasibility of such an organization came up each time. Operations, fee structures, and space were ongoing concerns. Because of the disparate operating budgets of area theatres it’s likely such an operation would be highly attractive to the smaller companies, while the larger organizations would get less out of participating.

What gaps should we focus on now?

Materials – the thought that spurred this project: let’s stop using trees on stage. We have discovered that several potential alternatives (Kirei Wheatboard, PlyVeneer) are being developed, but as of yet, we have not found a product that meets most of the needs of scenic construction. We’re confident we will find the right manufacturer who will be interested in helping us realize our goal.

Funding – there’s no doubt that using a sustainable plywood alternative will be more expensive. We need to find ways to convince our funders that sustainability is important. In Childsplay’s case, the irony of a children’s theatre with a mission of “imagination and wonder” that is mortgaging children’s futures through unsustainable practices was not lost on the group. We need to tie our requests for support to causes, “asking for the right thing, the right way”.

Conciseness raising – as we learned at the first summit, recycling our scenery was a much more achievable goal than we had been led to believe in the past. The Think It grant allowed us to spend the time to find “the right person.” In our next blog post, we’ll be taking you though the process of the first two sets to have been recycled in Childsplay’s 33 –year history.

-- Jenny Millinger & Anthony Runfola, Childsplay

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.