Skip to content

Eco-Resources for Theatre Companies

 The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA): was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Broadway Green Alliance 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.

Julie's Bicycle: Julie’s Bicycle is a London based charity that supports the creative community to act on climate change and environmental sustainability. We believe that the creative community is uniquely placed to transform the conversation around climate change and translate it into action.

We provide the creative community with the skills to act, using their creativity to influence one another, audiences and the wider movement. We run a rich programme of events, free resources and public speaking engagements, which contribute to national and international climate change policy development.

Theatre Green Book: Newly developing resource on sustainable productions, sustainable buildings, and sustainable operations.

Sustainable Cinema: A Historical Timeline of the Best Environmental Movies and Documentaries: a list of movies that are the finest examples of sustainability in cinema including:

Captivating dramas that serve as thought-provoking debate topics
Child-friendly animations that form the base of class-time discussions
Documentaries with a direct message that can encourage viewers to look up their local green organizations or start petitions

Greenturgy at Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Through its “greenturgy” initiatives, OSF is working to incorporate an awareness of the environment into the understanding of its plays. Their plans are described in this post by dramaturg Alison Carey.
 
Tips for green, more sustainable shows: Guardian Article from 2014, with several embedded links to further resources.
 
Shakespeare Hour: ‘Shakespeare and the Environment’: Hour-long video on Shakespeare’s green world. As the torrent of images of nature in comedies and tragedies alike seems to suggest, the world of nature, of Stratford-upon-Avon and the English countryside, was never far from his heart or his pen. What do Shakespeare’s works, written during the first wave of early modern mass urbanization, tell us about views of our natural world, then and now? How do his works (and the production of those works) relate to 21st century sustainability movements? In this episode, we discuss Shakespeare the environmentalist. Guests: Sir Jonathan Bate (Foundation Professor of Environmental Humanities at Arizona State University); Susan Hilferty (Tony and Obie Award-winning costume and scenic designer; Chair, Department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts); and Davis McCallum (Artistic Director, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival)
 
Interview with Evelyn O'Malley on Open Air Shakespeare: Video of open-air theatre expert Evelyn O’Malley in conversation with Shakespeare Link Associate Artist Jamie Wilkes. Evelyn is a lecturer in drama at the University of Exeter and researches open-air Shakespeare, theatre and climate change. Evelyn’s work has resulted in a book, Weathering Shakespeare (described on our book resource page).
 
Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy by Professor Jem Bendell: Two years after its first release, this paper has influenced hundreds of thousands of people to reconsider their lives and work in the face of dangerous climate change. A new agenda, community and movement for Deep Adaptation to our predicament has been borne. It is comprised of people who believe that a climate-influenced collapse of societies in most parts of the world in the coming decades is either likely, inevitable or already unfolding. They are organising a diversity of activities to help reduce harm, save what we can, and create possibilities for the future while experiencing meaning and joy in the process.

Please send us your suggestions to add to this page!