The Green Room Just Got Greener

In a theater, the green room houses actors and musicians before they take the stage. Walls painted bright green, it is where artists are fed, pampered and prepare to perform. This year, the Wisconsin Union Theater green room got a little “greener” by joining the worldwide movement to reduce our carbon footprint.

For Theater staff, going green was a natural step. Esty Dinur, the director of marketing and communications says, “Like many other organizations and individuals, the theater is concerned about the globally deteriorating environment. We decided to do what we can.”

The Theater’s Green Campaign began in the 2007 – 2008 season by inviting patrons to take advantage of Theater services available online. Theater staff agreed that many theater-goers would support the movement and help out with the campaign by going electronic. “Our biggest carbon producer is the season brochure,” Dinur says, “The trees that are cut for paper, transporting them to the paper mill, then to the printer, the energy it takes to convert wood to paper and then to print and transport them again--to the thousands of people on our mailing list.”

To encourage theater patrons to join the campaign, the Theater’s Web site has been transformed to increase interactivity. “Go look at any of our events and you’ll find video, audio, reviews, bios…a lot more than is included in the season brochure,” Dinur says, “Being a live, easily modified medium, you’ll also find updates there which, naturally, cannot be included in a printed brochure.”  Dinur adds that the Theater plans to go paperless within the next few years.

The Theater’s Web site also houses a blog written by students from the WUD Theater Committee and a photo blog that is updated regularly with pictures from the latest season performances.

In addition to the season brochure, the marketing department has reduced its paper press releases to nearly zero, sending its releases almost exclusively by email. Theater Director Ralph Russo adds that Theater staff is also asking its performers to join the campaign. “We now ask all of the artists, artists’ agents and managers to send us digital press kits instead of printed items. We used to receive over 300 paper press kits and artist promotions in a typical year,” Russo says, “Receiving these electronically cuts down on paper use as well as the resources necessary to ship these items.”

In order to do go paperless, the Theater will need help from its many patrons. “Since launching our Green Campaign, we’ve reduced our mailing list, but not by much,” Dinur says. “We’re proud of our beautiful brochures and are happy that our patrons want to receive them, but we hope that they will check out our new website, see the wealth of information on it and take themselves off the mailing list for next season.”

Interested in joining the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Green Campaign?
Send an email ted@wut.org giving your Full Name, Address, City, State, Zip and Telephone Number and express your desire to GO GREEN!

Emily Semmelman