A Performing/Arts Space Courtesy of The Arts Initiative at Ohio State & Campus Partners 1568 N. High St. Columbus, OH 43201 Located in the heart of the South Campus Gateway (Near the Parking Garage) Directions
The Green Room is a gift from The Arts Initiative at Ohio State and South Campus Gateway. Whistling in the Dark is very pleased to present a lineup of events in this beautiful (and virtually RENT FREE!!) space in the South Campus Gateway. Our mission in The Green Room is to create a sustainable gathering place for performing artists in the University District. Our goal is to reduce our carbon footprint by creating low-cost, high-quality and environmentally responsible theatre. OUR MATh: Buy Less Toss Less + Waste Less Costs Less Reduce, Reuse, ReStage... We declare that we can make do with less.
We recognize the inherent waste in most theatrical creation and challenge ourselves and others to reduce energy consumption, to restage costumes, scenery and props and to recycle the rest. Our creativity is not limited to the work we do onstage, we embrace the artistry of re-creation. In attempting environmental sustainability we approach fiscal sustainability. Here’s what we do: We {Buy Less} - or more appropriately we Restage. Whistling in the Dark has made a commitment to attempt 100% post consumer content onstage in terms of our costumes, props and set pieces. Our company has formed an unofficial partnership with The Ohio State University Department of Theatre. They have allowed us access to their “hand-me- downs” from the costume and scenic storage. In turn we have restaged them. This is nothing new of course. Theatres have been borrowing from their neighbors for years. But having spent almost a decade working on and off in various scene shops I can tell you that often designers and TD’s see this as less desirable than creating something “new” for each show. Our goal is to embrace the artistry of designing from used materials. This achieves several things: • Lower costs to build the show – Significantly lower. • Less freedom for designers and directors. • A visually recycled aesthetic. • More community investment. • Less impact on the environment. We also {Toss Less} We are in the process of building a community theatre storage program - in the relatively short time we have been working on this project we have already found homes for several of the scenic and costume pieces that we have accumulated. Our idea is that if we can’t store it or find a new home for it, we will sell it or give it away before we throw it away. This is still fairly conceptual and requires more man-hours than the typical strike, but it is yielding several positive results: • Generates money • Makes friends in the theatre community • Longer life for designers work. • Less landfill contributions. {Waste Less} This is where we get into Energy and resource consumption. One of the places that we have identified as additional area of waste in most theatre companies is in paper products. We have committed to online paperless ticketing, more online advertising and no programs. We have a giant chalkboard painted on the wall that we write our program on. Whistling the Dark recently got a grant from the Arts Initiative at Ohio State to help fund a low –wattage light system. Our focus is on LED lights and so far we are enjoying very good results: {Costs Less} • Lower our carbon footprint • Lower electric bills • Lower printing bills • Color mixing without gels • Less heat = happier actors and less AC It is important to say that none of these are new ideas; these are old concepts that are starting to become profitable concepts. Our math has worked so far – these greener solutions have a learning curve and some drawbacks, but they can add up to big savings financially and they come with warm-fuzzy feelings and the satisfaction that you are starting to combat the theatre waste problem. We invite you to come experience our Green Room first hand. Watch a show, sit in our audience - see what you think. We welcome all kinds of feedback and hope that this journey is one we can share. We also invite other theatre practitioners to experience the artistry that working from a constrained green palette can awaken. - Kal Poole WITD Managing Director The Green Room To rent the Green Room for a performance or event,
or to get more information about our restaging program contact whistlingtheatre@gmail.com |
©2009 Whistling in the Dark Theatre Co. | All Rights Reserved
