NY Daily News: “The Great White Way goes green”

This post comes to you from the Broadway Green Alliance

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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, July 2, 2014, 11:43 AM

More than 11.5 million people gave their regards to Broadway last year, generating almost $1.2 billion for New York City’s theater district — and countless greenhouse gas emissions. While Kinky Boots are always welcome on the Great White Way, a colossal carbon footprint is something the entertainment thoroughfare would prefer to do without.

Looking to limit its environmental impact in a meaningful way, Manhattan’s  professional theaters have banned together through an industrywide initiative called the Broadway Green Alliance to help Broadway get greener.

“We know that Broadway is not only economically and culturally important to New York City, but people from around the country and around the world come to New York to see a Broadway show, so we know that becoming more energy- and resource-efficient is good for our industry, for our city and our world,” says Rebekah Sale, coordinator of Broadway Green Alliance.

The alliance started as an ad hoc committee of the Broadway League in 2008 before becoming an affiliate program of Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, which is the theater world’s principal non-profit fund-raiser and grant-making organization. “We’re a group of theater professionals, students and fans who come together to work on greening Broadway in a grass-roots way,” Sale says.

When it comes to implementing environmentally friendlier practices, the old adage “go big or go home” need not apply. Sale says that although the alliance is equally as interested is discussing sustainable design or infrastructure improvements with theatres, as it is with organizing recycling programs to make the opening and closing of shows more resource-efficient, sometimes it’s the small stuff, like battery and light bulb upgrades, that makes the biggest difference.

“Most shows now use rechargeable batteries in microphones and flashlights, keeping thousands of toxic disposable batteries from the waste stream every month,” Sale says. “It is easy, saves money, and is better for the environment. ‘Wicked’ went from using 15,000 batteries a year to just under 100.”

“Green captains,” from left, A.J. Fisher, Kimilee Bryant, Rhea Patterson and Jessica Lea Patty help promote an environmental message at theatrical productions.

The lights of Broadway have been, burning bright since the turn of the 20th century, Broadway Green Alliance liaison for their production,” Sale says. “This season we had Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald and Michael C. Hall volunteer. They all volunteered to be the green captains on their production, which is nice because of the legitimacy (it adds) among the whole cast and crew.”

Convincing New York’s theaters that energy and resource efficiency doesn’t require them to sacrifice anything in terms of creative integrity of artistic mission has gone a long way toward getting the industry as a whole to embrace the alliance’s grassroots efforts. “Donyale Werle literally went dumpster diving to create the set of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ in 2012, and she ended up winning that year’s Tony Award for best scenic design,” Sale says. “It was a totally upcycled set.”

The alliance relies on ambassadors called “green captains” to help relay its message to the casts and crews of every play and musical participating in the program. “We ask for a volunteer at the first rehearsal of every Broadway show, somebody who will be the go-to green person and the Broadway Green Alliance liaison for their production,” Sale says. “This season we had Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald and Michael C. Hall volunteer. They all volunteered to be the green captains on their production, which is nice because of the legitimacy (it adds) among the whole cast and crew.”

Support from Broadway’s brightest stars is huge, but Sale stresses that greening the Great White Way is really a group effort — one that requires the assistance of both the people on the stage and those in the seats. For the past five years, the Broadway Green Alliance has held four public collection drives a year in New York City. It’s managed to recycle 15 tons of electronic waste and nearly 10,000 pounds of clothing and textiles so far to date.

“We want people to see what we do,” Sale says. “We want to make sure that they see that we’re challenging ourselves. We just want to show people that green is something that this industry cares about and is working on.”

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The Broadway Green Alliance was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Along with Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, the BGA is a founding member of the International Green Theatre Alliance. The BGA has reached tens of thousands of fans through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media.

At the BGA, we recognize that it is impossible to be 100% “green” while continuing activity and – as there is no litmus test for green activity – we ask instead that our members commit to being greener and doing better each day. As climate change does not result from one large negative action, but rather from the cumulative effect of billions of small actions, progress comes from millions of us doing a bit better each day. To become a member of the Broadway Green Alliance we ask only that you commit to becoming greener, that you name a point person to be our liaison, and that you will tell us about your green-er journey.

The BGA is co-chaired by Susan Sampliner, Company Manager of the Broadway company of WICKED, and Charlie Deull, Executive Vice President at Clark Transfer<. Rebekah Sale is the BGA’s full-time Coordinator.

Go to the Broadway Green Alliance

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