Articles
It can be called: Green, Eco, Sustainable, or Recycled
Links
It's a Start
What My Theater Program
is working on
Teaching Sustainable Theatre (A Research Paper doc. for Ashland Center for Theatre Studies.)
50+ Things You Can Do Towards Being a Green Theater
About the Author
of These Pages
Calculate Your Theater's Carbon Footprint (London's Green Program Carbon Calculator)
Green Theatre goes by many names. It is called ecological theatre or ecotheatre, sustainable theatre, environmental theatre or even recycled theatre. Each term can refer to either the practice of producing plays that educate and promote ecology, or it can refer to sustainable and ecological practices that go into the making, of any production. The discussion on this site primarily concerns the latter definition, but feel free to discuss ecologically oriented dramatic literature or ecodrama in the forums as well.
This site is meant to be a resource for anyone who is attempting to practice sustainable theatre--especially in schools. I am compiling resource lists, posted a bulletin board type forum, writing/collecting some articles, and links, but best of all, is nice to gather and know there are others who are working toward the same ends. When I began this project, my hope was that my little theater would become a model green theater. I thought that with some research, it would be clear what direction to take and that fellow theater educators, being the intelligent, logical people they are, would see the reason in pursuing sustainability. All I can say in defense of my naivety is that I am an optimist at heart and if I was not, perhaps I would not keep trying. As anyone who has strove toward sustainability in theater can attest—there are a few hurdles.
One of the difficulties is that many of the common practices for being ‘green’, still come at a price for the environment. That can make it hard to really know what the best course of action is. What we often end up doing is what McDonough and Braungart call in Cradle to Cradle, “being less bad,” but it is still bad. What I would like to explore in these pages is how to make theatre that is good for the environment--or sustainable theater. Many of the products we need to accomplish this goal, don't even exist yet. As I mentioned, I am an optimist. Please join the discussion.
Sharon Swingle
Theatre Instructor-Designer
College of the Siskiyous
New Doings... update for January 2009
It was a busy fall--besides working full time at COS, and designing sound for a friend's production of The Importance of Being Earnest and as well as other graduate work, I taught stage makeup to an truly idealic group of students for SOU's Theatre Department. Unfortunately that meant I had no time to develope this site all fall. Anyway I am back at it. I love that ecological awareness has taken off these past couple of years--so many more resources are available. Back on my home turf however, we have made little headway. I was able to purchase 12 new source fours to replace less efficient lighting instruments, we replaced some of our work lights (catwalk etc.) with flourescents and most of our wood scraps went to biofuel.
For this year's ACTS research project, I am writing a costume stock management book for small theaters with tips on how to organize stock, do a better job of costuming a cast, with less work while being ecologically minded. I am posting the broad ideas in the costuming forum. With more to come as I get the information organized.
Thank You...to all who have helped make this site possible and especially to those of you who share your thoughts and ideas.
On Sustainability in Theatre and Education
The Forum
(let's spread the word)