HowlRound: Imagine a place without war. A place where the environment is fully protected. A place that is dedicated to new discovery and scientific research. That near-utopian ideal is present in Antarctica, where the Antarctic Treaty has insured international cooperation and stewardship for decades. Theatre should also serve this purpose. There are a number of ways in which climate change is being addressed through theatre and the arts. But as Antarctica captures the imagination and shows us what can be done in the most extreme conditions, I propose that we adopt an ambitious agreement modeled on that success to aggressively address the urgency of climate change now. Will you be party to the Sustainable Theatre Practice Treaty?
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Reading this article reminded me of my time this past summer working in Chicago. Chicago as a city for the most part practices the clauses laid out in this article. I know I have spoken on it in previous blog posts, but the fact that this article was written means that its author exists in a community that does not practice the principles that they laid out. I harp on Chicago being a center for theatre in America mostly because it has community like no other, while still having the breadth that the other major cities have (not to the same extent as New York, I know, but it is still undeniably competitive). I do not seek to advertise the city, but use its placement a center so that other cities in America can see it and begin to foster the community that it has: one that is dedicated to healthily competitive, socially conscious, community and socially driven work. This article is actually hopeful in the sense that it means that other members of the theatre community at large are noticing a need to bring people together in this sort of community. Therefore, I solidify one of my personal artistic missions, which is to take the community that I was raised in, and bring it to another place that may need it even more.
A few nit-picky things about this article from a graphical design perspective. First of all, the line length is too long, and second, the font is too big. Right now, it looks large and childish and silly. Okay, that's all for that. Real comment to follow.
In the world that we live in today, we would downright stupid to not consider the environmental impact of our actions. However, what we do in our personal lives is difficult to transfer to our professional lives. That being said, I am very interested in the semantics of this treaty. Using Antarctica as a metaphor is downright genius. If no one takes responsibility for what happens to our earth, no one is going to protect it. The most important part of this treaty though is the last line, "To impart this charter to future generations." Too often, we as a people are focused on the 'now' and not the future, barring environmental matters. At this point, our children will be living in a world that is ecologically worse that what we have now. Maintaining this treaty will be the most important part of it. It's no good to create something that will die when you do.
I really expected this article to give some sort of advice or suggest places to gain advice on creating more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices within in theatre. Maybe that was a bit too presumptuous on my part. The article does bring up a good point, how can theatre be more Green and environmentally friendly? I think this question has existed for several years now, but it just hasn’t been widely and loudly addressed. When I think of working in a scene shop, and the entire process of building sets from start to finish, I can’t help but think of how wasteful the process is. The thought has passed my mind a few times, and it seems to do some more frequently during summer stock. Huge sets, quickly built, and even more quickly torn down at strike, typically with 90% of the set going straight to the dumpster. There’s no time to go through all of that material and try to salvage pieces or get all of the metal out to take to the scrap yard. That would be incredibly inefficient. So how does one actually make building sets more green? Sure, designers can be more conscious and some things can be reused or repurposed, but many sets I’ve come across are very unique and some use even more unique materials. It would be really awesome to see some sort of large group effort of individuals putting their heads together and coming up with a slew of answers and practices that would make theatre more green. Maybe a scholarship competition where bright young minds propose new ideas for theatre sustainability.
I have always been intrigued by the idea of sustainable theatre. If there has been one thing that has been consistent in all of the theatre shopsI have been to is the amount of materials that are thrown away. When choosing the type of material to use for a set piece, the environment is usually a low down factor. The sets we build often at the end of production end up thrown away. There is a lot we can do about this. Why waste materials to a long decomposition process when we can use recyclables and reuse parts of the sets we build.To be more environmentally conscious can only help the theatre industry, as it helps the world.
I think that sustainable theatre-though really, sustainable ANYTHING- is so incredibly important right now. I wrote a paper on sustainable practices in theatre for Theater Management last semester and talked about what the theatre and arts community was doing other than just getting their buildings LEED-certified (which is still important, but there are way more proactive ways to be a part of the green movement.) Looking at the parts of this treaty, I agree with some of these points, like that we should dedicate ourselves to using the most energy-efficient and sustainable materials for our productions. The first point, however, seems a bit prescriptive and narrow in regards to what the content of the art should be. Theatre has been a way for people to express thoughts and feelings about non-peaceful stories for centuries, and these stories always have a purpose behind them and a message to send about why they aren't peaceful. There is a reason why almost every story has a protagonist and an antagonist- without conflict or something to overcome, then there is no story to tell, so a guideline like that is not an ideal thing to impose on a whole community of theatrical storytellers.
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