Theatre Goes Sustainable

If you've seen the new board in the Seymour hallway, you know that this term the Knox Theatre Department is trying to play its part in going sustainable. Sometimes with theatre, this seems a bit tricky: how does one manage to build sets and costumes "sustainably"? And with all those scripts and programs we have to print out, it's hard claim sustainability as a tenant of our philosophy when we use so much paper.

So, yes, sustainability is hard in respects to the theatre, but the truth is that living sustainably is hard regardless of the capacity in which it's used. The best we can do is be conscious of our environment and try to change habits that might be harmful to the world around us - to the best of our feasible and monetary abilities.


For Rep Term XVI, this means a couple of things -

1. Themes in The Caucasian Chalk Circle center around compassion, justice, and taking care of the land we have. Director Jeff Grace has taken these themes and connected it fluidly to sustainability by ensuring that all items in the show are being reused from past shows, purchased from second hand/vintage shops, or being created with the intention of being used again instead of merely thrown away.

2. While discussing themes of sustainability in Caucasian Chalk Circle, the first-ever Sustainability Crew was formed. Comprised of six people, they meet a few times a week to cook up plans to more concretely dedicate ourselves to sustainability. These plans include but are not limited to:

• The creation of tote bags from re-used t-shirts to give to the company 
• Brainstorming projects (such as a project called Growing Together, run by Knox's own Peter Schwartzman) to actively involve ourselves 
• Creating 'Sustainability Tip' videos for the general public (soon to be found on YouTube!)

3. We're encouraging the company to be more sustainable in their every day lives, whether this means remembering to turn off lights in the Green Room or not printing out class readings if possible. 

Our hope is that this dedication to sustainability continues past Rep Term XVI and can be incorporated into all of our practices as a theatre department. It will be a long journey, but a necessary and ultimately rewarding one. Because, as Brecht reminds us in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, "What there is shall belong to those who are good for it."