Get Started

Make choices towards being sustainable in both your theatre scene shop and scenic design practice. Choose one card from each of the three handles to implement on your upcoming production.

Want a challenge? Let us pick three random cards as your sustainability challenge for your upcoming production.

Follow the tip card. Record the impact. Share your challenges and results in the comment section below.

Local

Click on the flip tips below.

SHOP LOCAL

Spend Budgets Locally: Choose to spend production dollars in your local area firstly.

HIRE LOCALS

Get to know your neighbors. Utilize your local workforce.

BE INCLUSIVE

Encourage audience growth. Offer Buy One Get One, & Pay What You Can nights.

GIVE LOCAL

Find local organizations can benefit from your no longer needed materials & set pieces.

SMILE AND SAY HELLO

Promote people?s health, happiness, and well being.

MAKE CONNECTIONS & GIVE BACK

Participate in community engagement, philanthropy, and volunteerism.

BE ALERT

Watch out for best practices that ensure & increase health, safety, and wellness. Be considerate.

HIGH FIVE

Value co-workers and classmates. Recognize and acknowledge effort.

SUPER CHARGE YOUR SOCIAL IMPACT

Eliminate negative social outcomes to improve the quality of life for people ? employees, students, audience members.

BE INFORMATIVE

Share theatre company sustainability efforts with students and the audience members.

Lumber

Click on the flip tips below.

LOAN & BORROW

Make the most of local partnerships, support each other by loaning and borrowing stock items.

SCREWS

Use screws on wood to construct, and easily deconstruct for reuse. Screw without glue when possible. Best practices choice: wood deck screws.

SALVAGE

Salvage wood materials for reuse later, and organize them for easily accessible future use.

DESIGN TO DECONSTRUCT

Plan ahead! While you design keep deconstruction in mind.

STOCK

Become familiar with your stock and consider it at the start of each new production design.

TAKE THE ECOSTAGE PLEDGE

RE-IMAGINE

Consider new ways to create scenery with new materials. Think outside the box.

REDUCE

Label lumber before storing to reduce unnecessary waste. Measure and mark the ends of lumber to indicate lengths in feet and inches.

REUSE

Consider using scenery from previous productions before building new.

RECYCLE

Cradle to Grave: know when to let something go. Maximize storage space in the shop by safely recycling materials that are no longer of value to the shop.

Lower Toxicity

Click on the flip tips below.

PROTECT RAINFORESTS & STOP LAUAN USE

Instead find and use alternatives, such as Revolution Ply by Patriot Timber.

BE IN THE KNOW

Read labels & MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) what you are using before you use it.

SAVE THE OZONE

Use paints with Low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC?s) = low odor = Happy Nose.

SAVE THE SPRAY

Limit use of Aerosol spray paints, use compressed air sprayers instead.

GO RECHARGEABLE

Reduce use of single use batteries. Invest in rechargeable batteries.

PVC

Silent but deadly: Polyvinyl chloride is an odorless and solid. Eliminate PVC in scene shops. Handle existing material with care & protect yourself. Seek materials that are dioxins, phthalates, and BPA free.

GO FOAMLESS

Foam does not biodegrade and is toxic. Be creative and find alternative ways to get the job done. Who doesn?t love papier-m?ch??

NEVER DOWN THE DRAIN

Don?t throw paint down the drain. Recycle it safely.

KEEP IT CLEAN

Use Earth Friendly cleaning products such as Seventh Generation and ECOS.

TAKE THE ECOSTAGE PLEDGE