Pie-cing Together Eco-Friendly Productions

Planet Connections artists make a commitment to create theatre sustainably. At the start of each Festivity, each production team is provided with a long list of green theatre practices, from which each team may select those items which best match their show's style; big musicals might employ ten or twenty of these practices, while smaller black-box productions often list only three or four - an electronic program here, a reused costume item there.

Not every artist does everything, but every artist does something. Every Planet Connections performance is the result of several meaningful commitments to sustainable theatre practice.

These figures show a small selection of the commitments of festival participants over the last two years. 

Each pie chart shows an aspect of sustainable theatre practice. I have added resources or companies that specialize in helping artists commit to these goals in the caption section of each pie chart. Enjoy!

For example, Low-VOC paint
(VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds)

Check out Rehearsal, a useful iDevice app for actors in rehearsal and beyond!

Production groups made an effort to rehearse in spaces with fluorescent rather than halogen lighting. The Festivity's Green Team personally went through and switched out halogen bulbs for fluorescents in the Festivity lounge and lobbies for the duration of the festival.
However, the most obvious component of lighting - the stage lights themselves - could not be made more energy-efficient. Energy-efficient lighting instruments are undergoing development, at the moment. The most efficient stage-lighting instruments currently available, LED-based lights, may become more popular when certain problems have been resolved.

Minimal design elements are a budget-saver and a creativity-booster. 

The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity staff make healthy use of Google Drive and Dropbox to share files with one another, instead of printing them and sharing hard copies. Many of our artists do the same. 

In addition to their use as stage props, theatre people occasionally use cups, plates, etc. to eat food and have parties. You know, every once in a while. Promoting the use of something washable rather than disposable is an ideal green practice for shows with small production and performance teams - it's easy to do if there aren't two hundred unwashed dishes at the end of the night.
Also, Broadway Green Alliance suggests that a reusable water bottle with the show logo is a great first-rehearsal gift. 

There are dozens of options for eco-friendly printers here in New York City. Just Google "eco-friendly printing" and get price-checking. 

With CitiBike and the MTA as available resources, there's no excuse not to reduce your carbon emissions over the span of one rehearsal process.

To donate reusable props, try FilmBiz Recycling.
For costumes, try the Theatre Development Fund's Costume Collection or a local thrift store.
For scenery, Build It Green NYC is an excellent option.

For a Broadway example, watch this interview with the set designer of PETER AND THE STARCATCHER.
She mentions two fantastic organizations that have also been used by Festivity participants: Materials for the Arts and Build It Green NYC. 

For some shows this is more feasible than others, but a show with a projected set means an ecofriendly show (most likely). It also means an easy set breakdown on a festival schedule, which in turn ingratiates the Festivity tech staff. Which is always, always a good thing. Just saying.

Through these methods and many, many more, PCTF accomplishes a great deal to keep our contribution to the theatre scene eco-friendly. Have you seen a tip that inspires you? Are you saying to yourself, "That show I designed in college employed, like, half of these." Great! Bring your eco-friendly artistry to the stage for PCTF's 2014 Festival. Apply today!

A Round of Applause for Planet Inc.

Planet Connections is thankfully able to support a community of theatre professionals whose genuine commitment to social and environmental justice goes above and beyond the call of duty. Our artists collect donations and and raise awareness for the causes which matter most to them - and are offered resources and guidance by the Festivity at every step.

We can't do it on our own, though. Planet Connections would not be able to support the supporters of good causes nearly as effectively without, well, supporters of our own; the Festivity gratefully accepts the help of a wide variety of donors and sponsors every year in securing venues, stipends, event planning, etc. These (often corporate) donations assure that costs stay low and charitable contributions high. The donation may come in the form of a monetary gift; however, we far more frequently partner with organizations who are willing to donate some of their products to our good cause. 

Sometimes it's flowers to beautify an event. Sometimes it's a gift card to thank particularly a well-known artist for their time and effort. Sometimes, though, it's as simple and important as stocking the venue restrooms with toilet paper and towels. For this crucial contribution, we have to thank cleaning product company Planet Incorporated.

This year, Planet Inc. has donated all of the Festivity's cleaning products and many of our paper products. That toilet paper? The sparklingly-clean chair arms and spotless box offices where you get your tickets? That's Planet Inc. Their donations play a role in pretty much every aspect of the Festivity, in ways you would never notice.


But you should.


Let's start with the toilet paper.

Green Forest

(A subsidiary of Planet Inc.)

Their actual slogan is "Soft on Nature, Soft on You," but I really wish it were "Green paper: turn over a new leaf."
No?
Well, I thought it was clever.

Green Forest's paper products, which include toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins, and tissues, are 100% recycled. Actually, according to Greenpeace, Green Forest's paper products are among the most well-recycled products on the market. Take a look:

And these people have decided that they want to support Planet Connections's work with their donations. Talk about reflecting well on us. Okay, it reflects well on both sides, but what's the problem with that?

Planet Inc. as a Whole

Canada-based Planet Inc. puts its name on a wide variety of household cleaning products, as well. We mostly benefit from their all-purpose spray cleaner, but the company also offers lines of dishwashing soap and all different kinds of detergents.

This logo seems rather self-explanatory.

 Their products are hypoallergenic, 100% biodegradable, and have never been tested on animals - important considerations for Planet Connections, an organization that is both ecofriendly and socially conscious.

Shiny biodegradability certification. Do you have one?

The biodegradability of their products is certified by a third-party scientific research company, Scientific Certification Systems, if you'd like to cross-reference - this is the list of products they've certified as biodegradeable, if you'd like to fact-check or find other ecofriendly household products. Planet Inc. doesn't offer furniture polish and dust mops, for example - at least, not yet - but a company called SSS Journey seems to. Feel free to browse for the greenest ways to clean your home when you're done buying up all of Planet's cleaning supplies.

Long story short, Planet Connections would like to reward Planet Inc. with a big round of applause for their extraordinary - and extraordinarily generous - dedication to environmental stewardship. 

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." -Rick
"I mean, seriously, we both have Planet in our names." -Me

The Picnic Challenge

I wore a short-sleeve shirt yesterday. You know what that means?

It’s finally (finally) picnic weather.

Which is why, theatre people, I can now present you with a “Take ten” picnic challenge. You wolf down food mid-rehearsal anyway. Use one of your summer-evening rehearsal breaks to connect with your cast/crew/creative team/complete strangers in the great outdoors with a speed picnic.

And nobody gets hurt.

The Challenge: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Get a bunch of fresh, easy-to-eat, local finger foods. I recommend fresh bread (pre-sliced or rippable), a bread-dipping-friendly jar of preserves, a couple of sliced cucumbers and bananas. Pack them in tupperware and recyclable containers in a picnic basket.

Step 2: Get a blanket you’re comfortable putting on the ground.

Step 3: Ask your team to join you in the challenge. Especially your stage manager. Stage manager on a break often means a longer break. Plus, SMs deserve more love, and everyone knows it.

Step 4: When your director/choreographer/whoever’s in charge says, “Take 10,” everyone sprint out of the building, lay out the blanket, pull the food out of the containers, and start munching. And before you can say step five -

"We close on Broadway, take our two million, and go to Rio!"

-everyone’s shared a meal, and it’s taken less than 10 minutes. Plus you’ve done something good for the environment.

Even if you choose not to accept the challenge - which would be inconceivable - make it a priority to check out some farmers’ markets this summer. You can benefit local businesses and reduce your carbon footprint immensely by just choosing to buy the local, often-organic food items available outside of the supermarket. There are so many in New York that I can almost guarantee there’s one suitably local, maybe even more so than your local grocery.

The sites below will help you find the food you want, at the markets closest to your doorstep.

Eat Green

1. GrowNYC Greenmarkets

http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/ourmarkets

New York City dwellers should probably start with this list of markets run or sponsored by GrowNYC. I’m a big fan of GrowNYC in general, but what’s especially great about their online listing is that you can tell at a glance which Greenmarket locations also provide battery and textile recycling. Some even collect compost.

You can also explore the site further to learn more about their Youthmarket farmers’ markets and wholesale food options.

Drool.

2. The Farmers’ Market Federation of New York

http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/farmers-market-profiles/markets/markets.html

The Farmers’ Market Federation of New York provides a listing for all farmers’ markets across the state on their website, available to be edited and updated by every NY member farmer. This site is a great option for those living outside the New York City metropolitan area. However, take care - as the site is mainly geared toward providing resources for the farmers themselves, the list of markets can occasionally prove to be less than current and/or user-friendly.

One lovely feature of this site is that it lists whether certain markets accept credit cards or require cash, which can be very useful.

Don't be me.

3. WhatIsFresh

http://www.whatisfresh.com/

This site does not cover any new territory - in fact, its main focus is GrowNYC’s Greenmarkets. The beautiful part of this site is that you can can shop by product. Don’t have an idea what you want to cook this week? Look up what’s in season. Oh, you like the sound of asparagus. The site lists every market vendor who carries asparagus, and which Greenmarket locations they frequent. Want to make sure you aren’t going to come home from shopping with five heirloom potatoes, a leek, and a recyclable bag full of frustration? Suddenly you can make your market trips as predictable as a grocery store run. To which I say:

So use the resources at your fingertips this summer, and make the world a greener place. It’ll be a picnic.

Are You Pinterested, Yet?

I was clicking around the Broadway Green Alliance website – you know, my usual source of entertainment, sometimes augmented by Buffy the Vampire Slayer binge sessions – and I discovered they had a Pinterest account. For those of you who don’t know what Pinterest is, the site describes itself as “a tool for collecting and organizing the things you love;” you grab your favorite links and photos from the internet and “pin” them to a “board,” creating a kind of virtual rock collection or (for the less-organized among us) e-junk drawer of cool, often-creative ideas. Take a look.

But back to BGA. I was intrigued by the idea that such a well-known and respected group would publicize that they have an account on a site I normally associate with collages of cupcake recipes, so I took a look. There’s some cool stuff on there – as the name “BGA Crafts” implies, Broadway Green Alliance’s board is full of little projects you can do out of recyclable materials. Items like a tie wreath or a pop tab bracelet encourage the reuse of scraps that would otherwise end up in a landfill. 

Stylin'.

That’s pretty cool. But as I browsed further, I discovered a wide range of Pinterest boards devoted to landscape design - ideas that might be easily and/or creatively adapted to an ecofriendly stage to great effect.

There’s something very theatrical about landscape design. You’re creating a space with certain potential: a flower garden with a bench where one might sit on a sunny day; a kid’s playhouse twined with ivy to soften the harsh lines of a suburban backyard. A designed space - say a tree, front and center - evokes a scene, whether it’s a 2007 interpretation of the opera Falstaff in Metz, France (below) or someone’s backyard “sanctuary” (also below). The essential difference is that a landscape designer sets a scene for real people, and a scene designer creates it for characters.

Oh, sure, the guy with the antlers is a bit of a tipoff, but don't they both have a little theater magic?

So there’s a lot of overlap, particularly for plays set in the outdoors, or, dare I say it, outdoor theater (a personal fascination of mine). This is what makes Pinterest an interesting tool for theater artists. Pinterest may not be the go-to spot for set designers or any professional artist with stakes in keeping their creativity a sellable commodity. However, it and other social-media-based sites like it (cough Tumblr cough) are full of amateurs excited to share their landscaping ideas. Often, we can take lessons in resourcefulness and sustainability from the designs of these non-designers. We might even be able to use them onstage.

Take a look at these ideas I found uploaded widely across Pinterest, and contemplate the awe-inspiring creative power of thousands of landscape artists, homeowners, and art enthusiasts, armed with cameras and internet access, contributing their creativity to the world at large, and incidentally creating tools for sustainable stage designs. Whether you’re more into the small projects “BGA Crafts” provides, or are the type to contemplate the crossovers between real and “dramatic” scenebuilding, Pinterest users offer ways to make the creation more environmentally-friendly - one pin at a time.

(A Selection of) Green Design Ideas from Pinterest

An old bodice and hoop skirt adapted to be a “garden” – wouldn’t it be interesting to see it onstage in a production of The Magic Tower by Tennessee Williams, a play about a couple with dreams of making a hovel a lovers’ paradise? (http://pinterest.com/pin/65372632063568450/)

Path stones painted with glow-in-the-dark paint – pavers by day, yellow brick road in a trippy staging of The Wizard of Oz by night? (http://pinterest.com/pin/353532639468973455/)

 A little pergola with living vines “nice with a Tudor home” – think it might also be a nice, romantic, outdoor backdrop for a summer production of Anne of the Thousand Days by Maxwell Anderson? (http://pinterest.com/pin/26880928998019790/)

They say French-inspired garden, so why do an upcycled barn door and trees in pots say to me Man of La Mancha? (Honestly, tell me, I have no idea.)

http://pinterest.com/pin/121878733635975933/

If you have any ideas to add, I’m the proud repinner of the glowing rocks above. Add me. Either way, happy designing!

Save a Little Something

 As theatre-makers, we know every world we create will eventually end up as waste. Unless you're lucky enough to be a Broadway professional, sets are temporary; maybe they last four months for a run and rehearsal process, or maybe just a weekend or two. Then you have to tear them down, and separate the bits into “storeable” and “not storeable.” The end result is a lot of oddly-specialized theatrical flotsam and jetsam with no place to go but the trash. Right?

This question occurred to me when I was at my day job; I help pay for my education by working as a production assistant for Barnard College's Theatre Department. As I took a break from chopping up some 2x4 or other down in the theater's tech shop, I glanced above a tool cabinet and found myself staring into the baleful eyes of a stuffed, mounted, life-size dolphin head.

To the best of my knowledge, it's a set piece from Barnard's production of The Egg-Layers by Lauren Feldman that no one has yet had the heart to trash. The thing made me smile, though – try as we might not to, we develop attachments to our artistic designs. Though the places/times/amorphous feeling-spaces we create might be temporary, we still want souvenirs.

Hello there, friend!

You know what I mean. Everybody's encountered that actor who's stolen a costume, or a prop, or has not and still brags about it after (Avengers fans will appreciate actor Tom Hiddleston's playful thievery on the set, outlined in this article). It's not just the actors – properties masters can get a little, well, proprietary as well. I'll spare you all the high school horror stories about post-strike disappearances and the bloodbaths which followed. The point is, nobody wants to throw out their favorite bits of imaginary worlds.

Oh, Loki. Everyone can forgive
you for coveting that hammer.

So here's where the Green part fits in: don't throw them out. 

Theater is often created to be temporary, it's true. But if you really take pride in your work, you want to see it live on to stare balefully into the eyes of other theatre professionals. So to speak. So when you're done with a set, or you've got some props that you just can't bear to tear apart for scrap, send them along to the folks at some of the organizations below. They'll see if they can give your souvenirs new life in a new audience's imagination – and isn't that why you created them in the first place?

Arts and Theat-Remakers

Set Recycling Hotline

Build It Green (BIG) NYC

FilmBiz Recycling and Prop Shop

Materials for the Arts

Othe-Remakers

FreeCycle - New York City

Reuse!NYC

P.S. Check out their NYC WasteMatch program to be on the receiving end of some free stuff, as well! (http://www.reusenyc.info/our-projects/nyc-wastematch )



ONE LAST FUN FACT
Did you know Planet Connections runs educational workshops? Now you do. Just last week we had a Green Theatre Workshop featuring representatives from several organizations in the New York City area which specialize in keeping this industry sustainable and eco-friendly from cradle to tomb. Some of them, like FilmBiz Recycling and Prop Shop and MFTA are listed above. Others, like a certain fantastic costume storage and rental facility, will soon be the target of excursions, on my part. I'll be a spy for you, dear reader, so get excited and keep an ear out for Planet Connections's workshops in future.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Spring's begun, and it's about time. Spring means a mindblowing 2013 season announcement from Planet Connections Theatre Festivity will hit the presses in mid-April, so keep an eye out. Spring also signals my arrival: I'm Piper, Greener Room blogger extraordinaire and your friendly neighborhood Green/Charities Apprentice for the 2013 PCTF. I'm a student at Barnard College of Columbia University with interests in theatre and environmental science, I love puns, and I'm a Midwest farmer's daughter (Beach Boys, anyone?). It'll be my job this summer to keep this blog updated with weekly news and helpful hints for living a greener, more artistic, more socially conscious life in New York City. Let's get started now.

In honor of the leaves beginning to peek out from the trees, as well as the new life that's beginning to thrum through the Planet Connections team, this week I'd like to let you in on some gardening and otherwise plant-related opportunities available in our community in just the upcoming springtime weeks. It's planting season, and a new tree or garden can be a fantastic force for environmental good. Recall your last science class and you'll remember that plants are carbon based; as they grow, plants pull the carbon they use in their molecular structure directly from carbon dioxide in the air.  As they break down at the end of the growing season, that carbon may be released – however, by planting perennials and evergreens (plants that don't decay as fully and often), by attempting to grow plants that may brighten your home and grace your dinner table (lessening transportation/shipping-related carbon emissions), and by avoiding the use of environmentally destructive gardening products like peat and certain pesticides, plant cultivation can prove to be a small, enjoyable way to offset your carbon footprint.

Here are just a handful of New York City organizations and events in the next few weeks that provide materials and resources for the green-minded New York City-dweller. May they inspire you to become a little more green-thumbed this spring and summer.

ANYTIME

NYC Government Environmental Projects

The New York City government has a listing online of a huge array of volunteer opportunities for anyone with an interesting in helping out with anything. Their easy-to-navigate site is one way to connect to volunteer needs in the city many months in advance, and you can sort for Environmental projects only, if that's what pleases you. Notably, the Environmental projects currently listed include tree planting and native seed sowing. Check out the listings at http://www.nycservice.org/#s

Join a Community Garden

A simple website. http://gardenmaps.org/, shows locations for a huge number of gardens across the city, and helpfully color-codes listings by their ability to host volunteers.

APRIL 5

Register for GrowNYC Plant Sale
If you’re willing to help beautify a public space, or want to run a plant sale to benefit a good cause, GrowNYC will supply you with all types of plant flats at wholesale prices to help you get started. These starter plants are raised to order by Greenmarket farmers, and are available for pickup in either Brooklyn (May 2-4) or the Bronx (May 10-11). More information order forms available at http://www.grownyc.org/openspace/plantsale

APRIL 5  AND THE WHOLE SUMMER

Amir Project Farming Fellowship Application Due

The Amir Project is a community-building, garden-based summer education program that employs college-student age (18-24 y.o.) “farmers” to lead summer campers as they build community gardens, and to run about five hours/day of educational programming at those gardens all summer. A stipend and training are provided. “Lead Farmer” applications are open to gardeners of any creed, but would be an ideal opportunity for an eco-conscious member of the Jewish community – there are some sites where the concept of Tikkun Olam is part of the campers’ environmental and social justice education. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. More information can be found at their website, http://amirproject.org/.

APRIL 14

New York Restoration Project Spring Tree Giveaway

MillionTreesNYC, PlaNYC, NYC Parks and NYRP have banded together to provide private New York citizens with free trees. If you will plant one on your property, they will give it to you – it's that simple.  Trees are already 7 or 8 feet tall, but weigh about 30 lbs according to their website, so with a friend to spot you (read: keep you from tree-tipping), it probably can't get much easier to plant a tree. Half their stock is available on a first-come, first-serve basis day-of, but half the tree stock is available to reserve via online pre-registration, available here: http://www.treegiveaways.com/fovc.php