LDI

Showman Fabricators Celebrates Donyale Werle’s Tony win for Peter and the Starcatcher

Tony Awards After Donyale Werle’s win for best Scenic Design for a play at the Tony Awards last night, Showman Fabricators, who worked to bring the show to Broadway, sent an email to congratulate Donyale Werle on her Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play for ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’. Saying “Building this set was an honor and pleasure.”

Read on from their email this morning…..

BRAVA!! to Tony Award winning Set Designer Donyale Werle for her work on ‘Peter and the Star Catcher’.


Best Scenic Design of a Play was 1 of 5 Tony Awards ‘Peter’ won last night. Donyale is very conscience about the environmental impact of  her designs and material choices. We could not have been more proud to have built this show for her. Congratulations to Donyale as well as David Benken, Technical Supervisor and Patrick Eviston, Production Carpenter.  And Donyale, thanks for the shout out during your gracious acceptance speech!

Set Designer Donyale Werle at Showman Fabricators

Donyale Playbill

Playbill came to Showman and took a tour through the sustainability-conscience design and fabrication process of ‘Peter’ with Donyale Werle.  For more information about the show, visit Peter and the Starcatcher.

Highlights of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’


Click the video to view some of the highlights of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’.  Also visit the Showman and ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ facebook pages for additional video’s and information.

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Barbizon Lighting Company’s New Light Initiative

Barbizon Lighting Company has rolled out a new program called New Light Initiative. The “NLI” team is working within our organization to implement sustainable practices into all facets of Barbizon¹s operations. We are also developing educational materials to be used both internally to promote sustainable practices within Barbizon and externally to educate our customers and the industry.

The lighting systems in theatres, television studios, and even in houses of worship are among the least energy-efficient parts of those buildings. Cutting energy consumption, whether in a new building or throughout an existing system, can be an overwhelming task for a facilities manager, technical director, or staff technician to undertake on their own. That is why many in the industry rely on Barbizon¹s expertise to help them create a sustainability plan that is tailor-made for a specific facility¹s needs and usage.

Barbizon has over 60 years experience in the lighting industry and our staff, including a full-time LEED-accredited professional, understand the technology and benefits of the wealth of products available as well as the application challenges of a lighting system. Barbizon is uniquely positioned to provide you with the energy efficient solutions for the entire lighting system meeting your technological and design requirements.

“Barbizon’s commitment to sustainable practices encompasses our own operational efforts as well as encouraging sustainability in our industry through research and education. Barbizon’s business model has always been about providing our customers with access to products and information from which they can make choices.” Jonathan Resnick, President – Barbizon Lighting Company

“Sustainability in any form is most successful as a choice. Our New Light Initiative has been created to ensure that people have the factual information needed to make good choices in sustainability.” Steve Cullipher, Barbizon Florida Systems Manager, LEED AP

Barbizon New Light Initiative PDF

International Green Theatre Alliance Launched

New international initiative to green the theatre sector founded by environmental organizations Julie’s Bicycle (UK) and Broadway Green Alliance (USA)

A new International Green Theatre Alliance (IGTA) has been launched at this year’s LDI show in Orlando, Florida. The IGTA formalizes the growing partnership between Julie’s Bicycle (UK), which works on environmental sustainability across the creative industries in the UK, and the Broadway Green Alliance (USA), which works with the US theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally preferable practices.

The Alliance’s first project is a new website www.igtalliance.com which will go live in December 2011 and provide an entry point for international practitioners seeking information and resources on environmentally sustainable best practices in the arts. The website will introduce the extensive sustainability programs of alliance members and direct users to international resources and support networks.

Alliance members will be working together on a range of projects over the coming years. A major aim will be to pool their collective knowledge and experience to help the theatrical industry respond better to the specific challenges it faces in its transition to a low carbon business. This will include sharing and disseminating research; case studies and practical tools; and collaborating on new resources and events. One of the first projects is focusing on sustainable practices in stage lighting.

The founding members hope that the alliance will grow into a worldwide initiative of similar organizations working at a national level to bring about an environmentally sustainable future for the creative industries.

Alison Tickell, Director of Julie’s Bicycle said, “It is fantastic to find like-minded partners committed to the same sustainable vision, and prepared to pick away at the obstacles that make tackling climate change seem so tough. When creative people come together anything is possible, and the energy, creativity and focus of the BGA has been inspiring.”

Sian Alexander, Associate Director, Theatre for Julie’s Bicycle said, “We have enjoyed an increasingly productive and collaborative relationship with our colleagues at the Broadway Green Alliance and this new international alliance is the logical next step for us. We feel that we have much to learn from each other and that through collaboration we can achieve more, faster as we work to improve the environmental sustainability of our industry. In the first instance we hope to provide a useful international resource for practitioners through our website. We expect to see other practical outcomes of our work together over the coming year, and in time we hope that our alliance will grow to include other countries. To this end, we are already in positive conversation with colleagues in Australia and Canada, among others.”

Charles Deull, Co-Chair of the Broadway Green Alliance said, “The BGA is thrilled to launch the IGTA with Julie’s Bicycle, a proven leader in working with arts organizations in making their operations greener.  Bringing together the best sustainability innovations from Broadway, the West End and the theatre communities in the UK and US will enhance our effectiveness and support the many companies and individuals creating a greener theatre.  We look forward to expanding the IGTA to encompass other national organizations focused on a greener theatre community.”

Julie’s Bicycle is helping to make environmental sustainability intrinsic to the business, art and ethics of the music, theatre and creative industries. Established in 2007 by leading figures in the UK music industry, Julie’s Bicycle is a non-profit company working across the arts and creative industries, providing expertise in environmental sustainability to over 350 organisations in the UK and internationally. We offer practical advice, tools, resources and Industry Green environmental certification, informed by world-leading research into the environmental impacts of the creative industries.

www.juliesbicycle.com

The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) was launched in 2008 as an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and is a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. The BGA brings together all segments of the theatre community, including producers, theatres in New York and around the country, theatrical unions and their members, and related businesses. Working closely with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the BGA identifies and disseminates better practices for theatre professionals and reaches out to theatre fans throughout the country.

www.broadwaygreen.com

LDI is the largest tradeshow and conference for live design professionals in North & South America. Over 9,000 professionals attend LDI each year for pro-training, to spec gear and to network with colleagues and industry leaders.

http://ldishow.com/LDI11/public/enter.aspx

LDI 2011 Green Product Award goes to ArcSystems house light

A large crowd of LDI2011 attendees and exhibitors gathered for the annual LDI awards ceremony and cocktail reception, held this year on Saturday, October 29 at 5:15pm in Orlando, FL, where LDI marked its 24th year.  The Best Green Product Award (sponsored by Showman Fabricators): ArcSystem house light manufactured by GDS.

The ArcSystem is a new range of LED auditorium lighting fixtures that are truly dimmable from 0% to 100% using the wireless ARC Mesh protocol for control. This allows you to retrofit the ARC system without the need to rewire your auditorium.

The ARC system comes in a range of options for both recessed or surface mount, single cell to multi-cell including 1,2,3,5 and 8 cells. The optics are available in a range of beam angles including 19deg 24deg and 37deg. Using high efficiency optics and LED’s, GDS ARC system is able to produce a CRI in excess of 93 with a range of colour temperatures.

Video Chat in Artistic Endeavors

skype-iconIt goes without saying that the travel associated with our artist endeavors is not the most sustainable. I’ve been to so many conferences this last year, mostly traveling by plane. Next week I’m off to Europe where I’ll be staying in Copenhagen for COP15 and Wooloo.org‘s New Life Festival, but I’m also headed to London for the Future Arcola Launch and, it’s looking like Prague as well, to check in with a project for the next PQ in June of 2011.

I personally love traveling. I feel guilty, yes, but I love going places. I also feel there is no substitute for in-person discussions. The spontaneity and intimacy of direct contact is important and this is easiest to accommodate face-to-face and in the flesh. And, even when it’s not about having a one-on-one, there is also that just showing up most of the time is a big deal. I maintain that our “success” with the CSPA is due to persistence and “showing up”.

Two weeks ago, I was in Orlando for LDI for a full day of Green Sessions for the show technology crowd put together by Bob Usdin and Annie Jacobs from Showman Fabricators. There I had the chance to meet Bryan Raven of White Light in the UK again. We had been on a roundtable panel at the Theatre Materials/Material Theatre conference at the Central School of Speech and Drama‘s Center for Excellence in Theatre Training in April of 2008. That previous conference was also when I was able to meet, and have a drink with, Ben Todd from Arcola. Ben, who was not able to come to Orlando, and was instead in Stockholm (maybe you saw his post early this week) , was present via a video chat to talk about Future Arcola.

With the ubiquity of broadband connections, more and more people seem to be relying on video conference/chat technology to get other busy, high profile, greener guests to be able to be in two spaces at the same time. And, as it tends to shake out, the resident technophile/ show technologist, I get the pleasure of making a lot of them work.

Google_Talk_icon_by_hungery5Last night, at California Institute of the Arts I set up a video chat audition for guest artists that will be in residency at REDCAT, CalArt’s downtown LA space. The Artists of Invasion from the Chicken Planet, are based in New York and, though of no sustainable intention, weren’t going to fly out to audition some of our actors to use in their residency for two hours.

The day before, we had tested the connection. We used the same computer with the same software on the same network (hardwired into the wall) that we’d use the next day. We tried Skype, which was too choppy, garbled and had a couple seconds delay that made it less than ideal. We then switched to iChat with AOL Instant Messenger accounts and after realizing another computer being connected was preventing a decent video link, it proved the smoothest and most immediate.

So last night, when we moved the computer into the room that we would be conducting the auditions in, we configured the machine the same way, but were not able to make a connection on iChat. Skype had the same issues. At the prompting of a student director who was assisting, we tried Gtalk Video chat. It ended up working immediately and with excellent quality.

Earlier in the year, at Earth Matters on Stage (EMOS), when Moe Beitiks had tried to link up Brent Bucknum to present his bio-remidative work via video chat, we tried ooVoo, which we gave up on in favor of iChat again. We had almost just given up, but I only thought to use iChar from the decent chats I had experienced with my brother-in-law who was living in Edinburgh at the time. Also at EMOS we had a video conference in the University of Oregon library with a panel in London arranged by the Ashden Directory, which used their dedicated video conferencing package.

aim_logo_2.jpgIn both situations the video wasn’t great, but we could sort of communicate. The Ashden Session involved each end of the discussion/video conference going into another room to watch a video and then coming back to discuss together. But there was lag and the video wasn’t particularly clear. The Brent Bucknam session was not bad, but very one-way. For Green Day at LDI, the audio was great, but in one session, with Seema Sueeko from Mo’olelo Performing Arts, the video was minutes behind the audio connection.

Having now had extensive experience with video conferencing in less than ideal situations, I do long for the day when we’ll be able to turn on whatever client we’re using to video chat and it works smoothly and immediately, let alone with high resolution. But, that day isn’t particularly close. There are a lot of variables in the way of making that happen. Network connections, equipment, client servers, client and local network traffic, sunspots, radio waves and the phases of the moon. Even when we tried to eliminate as many of those variables in Eugene as possible, it still didn’t work ideally. Or, what was ideally was not enough to convince.

Will our broadband video connections be able to save us the footprint of air travel for conferences and internationally collaborative meetings of the mind? Not yet. There might be some expensive corporate system out there, but we lowly green artists aren’t going to hold our breath waiting for that. Oprah’s skype seems to work fine, but I’ve never had such luck, so I leave that package just to replace my need for international phone calls.

I’d still rather sit and talk to you, especially when we aren’t both staring at our monitors in our Pajamas.

Also yesterday, Enci Box of Rebel Without a Car Productions came to speak to my and Leslie Tamaribuchi’s class, Sustainability Seminar. She can to talk about producing a short film as sustainably as possible. This included not using cars and transporting everything by bike with the help of the LA Greensters (green teamsters). She made the trip from East Hollywood, in the center of Los Angeles, to the edge of the county, where CalArts resides in Valencia, without a car. She came up on a Metrolink commuter train, biking from the station to campus. She and I had worked out the options for getting there and she had the time to dedicate to coming up. Also, she was lucky to had met a guy who regularly made that journey to visit his girlfriend at CalArts and could relay the benefit of his experience. She then went back home, via bike. all roughly 30 miles of the trip. Coming up to CalArts, it took 2 hours. Returning was supposedly going to be one and a half hours. All for a 45 minute presentation.

I suppose we could have had her “skype” in (even if we don’t typically end up on skype), but having her there in-person was a much greater thrill and much more in the moment for the students and for her. Instead it took dedication to not leaving a footprint, and finding alternatives to get to the class. I’m very much indebted to Enci for making the journey, which some might say was epic, to present for a fraction of that travel time. But, I think it far surpassed our alternatives.

Bob Usdin of Showman Fabricators Announces First LDI Green Awards

Bob Usdin of Showman Fabricators, who organized LDI Green Day and the awards for best green product and best green production at this last year’s show in Orlando, is seen here announcing the recipients of those awards.

As a judge for the awards I had the opportunity to get into some great conversations about the products that were are weren’t on the show floor the weekend before Thanksgiving. I also got to ask questions about products that WEREN’T on the show floor.

We’ll be posting more from our LDI wrap-up before Miranda and I are off to Copenhagen to cover the arts festivities around COP15, primarily New Life Copenhagen by wooloo.org,  and maybe get over to Arcola for the launch of their new facilities.

If you need to catch up on all of the greening of LDI here are some links for you to check out:

https://www.sustainablepractice.org/2009/11/19/2009-green-day-ldi

https://www.sustainablepractice.org/2009/10/28/ldi-and-sustainability-part-i

https://www.sustainablepractice.org/2009/10/26/how-green-is-green-no-orangutans-were-harmed-in-the-making-of-this-scenery-aug-2008

https://www.sustainablepractice.org/2009/09/28/green-awards-at-ldi

2009 Green Day LDI

GREEN Day:
Greening in the Entertainment Industry

Thursday, November 19, 2009 – Room# N322
Join LDI in going GREEN! A full day dedicated to what the industry is doing—and can do—to reduce its carbon footprint and be environmentally smart!  A special full-day conference organized in conjunction with Showman Fabricators, as LDI “goes green.”
Sessions open to all LDI full-conference badge holders, and four-pack or eight-pack tickets.

PLUS: The Green Technology Today Showcase on the LDI Show Floor: November 20-22

9:00am-9:30am:

Welcome and Kick-Off
Bob Usdin of Showman Fabricators kick off Green Day with an overview of what’s happening in various aspects of the industry.

9:30am-10:30am

GD01 Why Bother? A Session for Skeptics!!!!!
Is there a Crisis?  The facts are indisputable when you see this evidence. Why is Greening in the entertainment industry important?  Beyond just the immediate carbon footprint of an event, talk about the ultimate payoff: Getting your audience to be green in their lives.
Learn about the 4-D’s, and how to deal with skeptics.

Speakers:
Paul Reale, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Green Allowance and trained speaker from Al Gore’s The Climate project will present the undeniable evidence from the Inconvenient Truth with updates on today’s global climate.

11:00am-12:30pm

GD02 Green Standards: Alphabet Soup
LEED, CRI, Greenguard, FSC, Greenlabel, VOC, MERV, 3 R’s, CFC’s, Carbon Offsets: A whole new language has evolved around greening. What does it all mean? More importantly, what standards are useful for the entertainment industry? We’ll look at how to weigh claims and benefits in materials, products, and practices.

Speakers:
Josh Allen, Theatre Consultants Collaborative
Seema Sueko, Moolelo Theatre
Mitchell Kurtz, AIA, LEED AP
David Weiner, Scenic Designer
View Green Products from the LDI Show Floor

What are manufacturers and suppliers offering that are green?  LDI exhibitors are invited to showcase their products that can contribute to making productions greener and more sustainable.

AC Lighting • Apollo • Clark Transfer • Creative Stage Lighting • Doug Fleenor Design • Gekko / PRG • Green Scene / Pro Tech • Iluminarc • Rose Brand • Rosco • Showman Fabricators • Stageline • Tomcat

Coordinated by: David I. Taylor, ARUP

2:00pm-3:00pm

GD03 Breakout Brainstorming Session:
This roundtable discussion will seek out Best/Better Practices being used around the country, in a completely ‘hands-on’ traditional brainstorming session with post-its and white boards. At the end of the session all ideas will be compiled and posted on a website. Bring every idea to the table no matter how crazy.

To focus attention, there will be three separate groups:
* Lighting / Sound / Projections
* Scenery / Staging / Props / Costumes
* Buildings / Facilities / General Operations

Introduction: Bob Usdin
Coordinators: Bryan Raven, White Light Ltd, Ian Garrett, Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts
Speakers: Bryan Raven, White Light Ltd, David Duell, Jonathan Deull, Laurel Dutcher
Scenery/Staging/Props/Costumes Coordinators: Annie Jacobs, Showman; Peter Monahan, Rose Brand
Buildings/Facilities/General Operations Coordinators: David Taylor, ARUP; Curtis Kasefang, Theatre Consultants Collaborative

3:15pm-4:30pm

GD04 Closing Session: The Proof is in the Pudding:
A look at projects from the past year that incorporated some green projects (productions, events, buildings, theatre companies, etc.) followed by a general discussion of where the entertainment industry can and should go to be green.

Speakers:
Bob Usdin, Showman Fabricators
David Taylor, Arup
Charlie Duell, Clark Transfer, Touring Green and Broadway Alliance
Katie Carpenter, Green Media Solutions
Meredith Bergmana, Green Media Solutions
Ben Todd, Arcola Theatre