Dance Magazine: Jennifer Kahn knew the theater industry could do better. As a professional stage manager for 17 years she worked on regional, off-Broadway and Broadway shows. Nearly each time a show closed, something unsettling happened: "I would watch them throw away our shows. All of the beautiful artwork by my friends in the paint shop would go in the trash." The elaborate backdrops? Gone.
4 comments:
I am a very big fan of this company’s business. The article said it plain and simple – the end of a show sees a lot of waste. Even here at CMU, when a show ends, we rent a big dumpster and toss 90% of the set straight into the bin to be sent to a landfill. But what Scenery Bags does instead is entirely more sustainable – taking everything from these shows, from drops to marley and stage decking, and transforms it into bags and jewelry for any and all to enjoy. This significantly cuts down on the waste produced by any single show, and it creates from it such a unique accessory with so much more meaning and soul than your average clutch or bangle. I hope with time more businesses like Scenery begin to emerge, because they are completely right that so much goes to waste after a show closes. Not even just for jewelry, though – for anything and everything that a creative mind can come up with. With more companies like Scenery, theatre can become more and more sustainable, and this would be beneficial for everyone.
Okay... as a lover of both theatre and hand bags, I LOVE THIS! I really appreciate the principles this company was founded on. Theatre is truly a wasteful, wasteful industry, and I think many of us have seen a fair share of strikes where everything is just thrown in the dumpster. It's sad, and I think that theatre folk in general are very aware of these sorts of social issues, so I do think we can figure out ways to do better. This is an incredibly creative start.
Finding ways to be sustainable has never been more crucial than now, and I do understand that it's hard to find a way to reuse a set piece that was made very specifically for one show. Using the sets in tours and maybe even keeping them to rent out to organizations who are putting on the show once the rights are released are many ways to save from waste, but I think a lot of people see that as a waste of space instead and not worth the hassle/cost to keep up with. It's definitely a challenging question that I couldn't see a single solution for in my head.
Well, this company definitely has, and though there's still a long way to go, I think this is a great start. Also, it's just really, really fun! I will definitely be checking out their merchandise :-D!
Honestly, this is a great idea. Theatre does produce a lot of waste and being able to recycle it is awesome. This is an especially great idea because it recycles art into art. They are already receiving backdrops and stuff which were art and are turning it into another form of art but also a consumer product. I think its quite beautiful. However, while it does seem like this is creating a significant impact; I would be interested in seeing how much of an actual impact it is making. Theater and producing less waste is a big discussion as it should be. However, there are other methods that are more worth looking at and doing. Take for instance the shear amount of electricity a theatre uses. It is a lot, and if you look at how that electricity is generated you find that it is a much worse impact on our planet than recycling materials can negate. It would be more beneficial to set up solar panels, wind turbines, or other forms of generating electricity and using that to create an impact on being greener than recycling our materials. This isn’t to say we should do both, but this idea should be taken to other industries that produce much more landfill than theatre and promote other forms of creating positive impact than simply recycling materials.
What a cute and innovative way to reduce waste! Having struck just about every show I have ever worked on, I have seen many attempts to salvage what reusable lumber and cloth is left, but I have also seen my fair share of scenic elements go right into the dumpster without a second thought. Scenery Bags' solution is sustainable, intriguing and engaging for the public, good for public relations, profitable, and charitable! It's the full package. It is lovely to see people taking steps to increase sustainability and decrease waste in post, but it is also very important to plan accordingly. I hope theatre institutions are working toward creating more environmentally friendly or reusable set pieces so that one day, hopefully, a company like Scenery Bags would not be crucial for the wellbeing of the environment, but would be a perk of a show closing and the set being struck.
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