The Tempest Sustainability Project:
Remaking and Renovating 21st Century Theatre Practices
The production team for The Tempest, led by the Professor Robert Anderson, has used the production as a laboratory to examine the possibilities of sustainable theatre practice and to evaluate the material-ecological implications of theatre making. Working with the environmental artist and conservation design specialist, Chad Tyler, an alumnus of the Department of Landscape Architecture, the production team has been investigating ways of creating more ecologically-sound theatrical productions by interrogating the way we purchase, use, and dispose of building materials and the ways that we consume resources such as energy and water. Adapting Broadway Green Scenic Techniques, the Mo’olelo Theatre’s Green Choices Toolkit, and Julie’s Bicycle’s Sustaining Creativity Industry Green data management system, members of the research team have been working to measure, analyze, and minimize the environmental impact of theatrical production.
While there has been growing interest among professional theatre practitioners to create more sustainable theatre, the growth is slow and traditional practices, equipment, and cost limit experimentation with techniques. The production team received a Fine and Applied Arts Creative Research Award along with support from the Department of Landscape Architecture , the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts , and the Department of Architecture, enabling them to experiment with new products, materials, and techniques. Most of the materials appearing in the show have been upcycled from previously existing materials in stock. This includes the use of wooden platforms for the set, costumes and fabrics, and materials, such as cardboard, for the show’s props. Where purchasing was required, the team looked for ways to purchase materials and fabrics which received high scores from the Green Choices Toolkit and purchased from companies with records of excellence in sustainability. The team also developed new techniques and building materials in their research on sustainable theatre practice. Properties master, Julie Rundell developed a new, more sustainable paper mache clay recipe for the banquet foods, and the scenic charge, Joe Klug and his supervisors, working from historical practices, developed a non-toxic, washable paint from Hide Glue and Charcoal Dust to treat the platforms and canvas. In addition to these approaches, members of the production team have found ways to minimize waste, especially water and paper, through improved communication and sharing resources within our organization and within the community.
Our findings add to the minimal body of research on sustainable theatrical practice to encourage industry manufacturers and theatre practitioners to adopt new standards. Our immediate impact is the improvement of our own practices, which helps the university meet its goals to minimize its carbon footprint. Using The Tempest as a laboratory, we have begun to move beyond production practices that have been designed for speed, efficiency, and cost effectiveness to add the component of sustainability into the equation. Doing so, our work encourages our industry and other industries to interrogate their practices and re-evaluate the ways they create.
Valleri Hohman, Ph.D.
Sustainability Coordinator
Theatre History and Criticism, Department of Theatre
Further Sustainable Sources
Wendy Arons and Theresa May. Readings in Performance and Ecology (2012)
Dan Brayton. Shakespeare’s Ocean: an Ecocritical Exploration (2012)
Barry Witham. A Sustainable Theatre: Jasper Deeter at Hedgerow (2013)
Elinor Fuchs and Una Chaudhuri. Land/scape/theatre (2002)
Theresa May. “Beyond Bambi: Toward a Dangerous Ecocriticism in Theatre Studies” Theatre Topics 17.2 (2007)
Keith Gerchak. “How Green is My Theatre?” American Theatre 23.9 (2006)
Paul Brunner and Ellen Jones. “Green at the University: teaching green by being green” Theatre Design and Technology (Spring 2011)
http://ecotheater.wordpress.com/how-to-go-green/
http://www.broadwaygreen.com/
http://www.juliesbicycle.com/resources
Remaking and Renovating 21st Century Theatre Practices
The production team for The Tempest, led by the Professor Robert Anderson, has used the production as a laboratory to examine the possibilities of sustainable theatre practice and to evaluate the material-ecological implications of theatre making. Working with the environmental artist and conservation design specialist, Chad Tyler, an alumnus of the Department of Landscape Architecture, the production team has been investigating ways of creating more ecologically-sound theatrical productions by interrogating the way we purchase, use, and dispose of building materials and the ways that we consume resources such as energy and water. Adapting Broadway Green Scenic Techniques, the Mo’olelo Theatre’s Green Choices Toolkit, and Julie’s Bicycle’s Sustaining Creativity Industry Green data management system, members of the research team have been working to measure, analyze, and minimize the environmental impact of theatrical production.
While there has been growing interest among professional theatre practitioners to create more sustainable theatre, the growth is slow and traditional practices, equipment, and cost limit experimentation with techniques. The production team received a Fine and Applied Arts Creative Research Award along with support from the Department of Landscape Architecture , the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts , and the Department of Architecture, enabling them to experiment with new products, materials, and techniques. Most of the materials appearing in the show have been upcycled from previously existing materials in stock. This includes the use of wooden platforms for the set, costumes and fabrics, and materials, such as cardboard, for the show’s props. Where purchasing was required, the team looked for ways to purchase materials and fabrics which received high scores from the Green Choices Toolkit and purchased from companies with records of excellence in sustainability. The team also developed new techniques and building materials in their research on sustainable theatre practice. Properties master, Julie Rundell developed a new, more sustainable paper mache clay recipe for the banquet foods, and the scenic charge, Joe Klug and his supervisors, working from historical practices, developed a non-toxic, washable paint from Hide Glue and Charcoal Dust to treat the platforms and canvas. In addition to these approaches, members of the production team have found ways to minimize waste, especially water and paper, through improved communication and sharing resources within our organization and within the community.
Our findings add to the minimal body of research on sustainable theatrical practice to encourage industry manufacturers and theatre practitioners to adopt new standards. Our immediate impact is the improvement of our own practices, which helps the university meet its goals to minimize its carbon footprint. Using The Tempest as a laboratory, we have begun to move beyond production practices that have been designed for speed, efficiency, and cost effectiveness to add the component of sustainability into the equation. Doing so, our work encourages our industry and other industries to interrogate their practices and re-evaluate the ways they create.
Valleri Hohman, Ph.D.
Sustainability Coordinator
Theatre History and Criticism, Department of Theatre
Further Sustainable Sources
Wendy Arons and Theresa May. Readings in Performance and Ecology (2012)
Dan Brayton. Shakespeare’s Ocean: an Ecocritical Exploration (2012)
Barry Witham. A Sustainable Theatre: Jasper Deeter at Hedgerow (2013)
Elinor Fuchs and Una Chaudhuri. Land/scape/theatre (2002)
Theresa May. “Beyond Bambi: Toward a Dangerous Ecocriticism in Theatre Studies” Theatre Topics 17.2 (2007)
Keith Gerchak. “How Green is My Theatre?” American Theatre 23.9 (2006)
Paul Brunner and Ellen Jones. “Green at the University: teaching green by being green” Theatre Design and Technology (Spring 2011)
http://ecotheater.wordpress.com/how-to-go-green/
http://www.broadwaygreen.com/
http://www.juliesbicycle.com/resources