About
"Located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Virginia’s premiere classical theatre is at once intimate in scale and epic in imagination—creating vital, sophisticated, and accessible seasons built around a company of versatile actors performing in repertory all year round. We are a center for shared discovery by audiences, scholars, and artists of Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and classics old and new. There are three legs of the American Shakespeare Center that help support our mission. Each one reaches out to different communities to bring the joy of Shakespeare through performance, education, and the tour."
Mission Statement
"The American Shakespeare Center’s mission is to recover the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare’s theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education."
Ways that American Shakespeare Center has already practiced “green” theatre
"ASC’s commitment to exploring Shakespeare’s original staging practices allows us to operate sustainably. Our use of universal light, provided by LED candles, deeply reduces the power that would normally be needed to run theatrical lights. Our props and scenery are kept portable and reusable. In fact, our Actor’s Renaissance Season, designed by our actors, is costumed and staged entirely with items pulled from existing stock. We enjoy a vibrant relationship with local businesses and theaters, exchanging and upcycling pieces that go on stage - and in our offices.
We also work to reduce our waste inside the playhouse. When Staunton City stopped recycling plastic, we moved from glass bottles to cans that we could allow inside the theater; eliminating our need for plastic cups. We operate a comprehensive, weekly recycling schedule and offer a variety of receptacles for our audiences and staff to use."
Ways that American Shakespeare Center has already used their productions to highlight local or global ecological issues
"Our upcoming Shakespeare's New Contemporaries play focuses on the historical figures responsible for identifying and taxonomizing over 6,000 species of plants, some of which may now be extinct. The play is in conversation with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and invites audiences to consider the splendors of the natural world and the importance of protecting the planet. The production will spark additional conversation with audiences about these issues both formally (e.g. workshop, talkback, etc) and informally."
What are American Shakespeare Center's eco-theatrical goals and aspirations for the future? What do they want to work on and achieve? What kind of help and advice would be useful to them?
"One of the key components of ASC is it’s National Touring Troupe. Traveling from Maine to Texas, we aim to consolidate our tour stops to reduce the distance between venues. However, that isn’t always possible. We are eager to look into options for electric or hybrid vans, and grants to support their funding, to reduce the carbon footprint of our tour.
At home, we are considering using solar panels on top of the Blackfriar’s playhouse; to be truly lit by the sun. For our concession and merchandise, biodegradable serviceware and packaging is a goal.
Both at our Staunton home and on the road, we aim to be a leader in sustainable theater, by learning with and from others about ways to be greener in practice and to implement that into our messaging."
