Saving Playbills?

[April Saul]

House cleaning, of course, and wondering whether to save stacks of Playbills, all from the last 15-20 years.  Already separated and boxed the ones with autographs, is it all right to trash the rest? Trying to resist my hoarding tendencies here....

[BrodyFosse123]

Recycle those babies. I trashed over 1,000 Playbills years ago when I started purging and making my life lighter. I had them stored in boxes and never once looking at them. I just collected them to collect. No other reason. I never once looked at them since putting them into these numerous boxes. Never once have I regretted trashing those Playbills I was hoarding, which included countless classic shows from the 1930s thru the early 2000s. Whenever I see a show these days, I keep the Playbill a week or so then into the recycling bin it goes. I’ll never look at it again so why create clutter?

[LizzieCurry]

Usually I keep one from whenever I saw a show (the rest were given away at BroadwayCon). I do look at mine on occasion. Otherwise I would've never realized I saw Kelli O'Hara in the ensemble of the Jekyll & Hyde tour.

[squip]

Maybe you could try selling some of them, or give them to someone who collects playbills?

[alex814]

Consider selling the ones with value or donating them (I believe Laura Heywood aka BroadwayGirlNYC takes them and does giveaways for fans)

[Sutton Ross]

I tend to save the really special ones, like the OBC of Hamilton or when Ben Platt was in Dear Evan Hansen. Shows that were incredibly brilliant, special and transformative for me. The rest I give away or recycle. 

[Akitarent]

Do you have a list? I'd love to see. le t me know and I'll send you my contact

[goodlead]

Get rid of the ones for shows you didn.t like and keep the rest.  I remember throwing a whole lot down a garbage chute.  Did that feel good!

[uncageg]

A friend of mine just finished a project with his 25 plus years of playbills. He kept certain ones intact but he cut the covers and title pages off of the rest, stapled them together and trashed the rest of the Playbills. It took him about 3 weeks to do but he said it was worth it to open up space in his apartment.

I am in the process of putting at least the last 9 years of mine in binders. The rest of mine are in 3 bankers boxes in storage across country.

[VintageSnarker]

Funny how we're all doing the same thing. I know I have a box or two of older Playbills I need to sort through but I went through all the ones from the last few years. Now I have them sorted into signed, unsigned keepers, and ones I'm willing to part with. I already tossed the ones that were in poor shape or that no one would want.

[LizzieCurry]

At least throw them in recycling, NOT THE GARBAGE.

[RWPrincess]

My collection isn't very big but I enjoy being able to go back and look at an old Playbill and see who I may have seen perform years ago. I still have my Little House program from Paper Mill and it's fun to see how many of those actors have moved on to current shows.

[dianamorales]

SELL THEM!!! Please. There's history in there that plenty of collectors (like me!) would love to see.

[LuminousBeing]

I’ve kept every single one of my Playbills, and I keep them organized in binders in chronological order of when I saw them, and they stand in a row on a bookshelf. Those binders of Playbills bring me joy, and I occasionally leaf through them and enjoy the flood of memories I associate with the shows. I don’t regret keeping any of them, even those from shows I didn’t like.

But that’s just me. My best friend is as reverential about theater as I am, and he recycles all Playbills from shows he doesn’t absolutely love. For those he does love, he removes the covers, cuts them up, and makes collages on canvas with which he decorates his apartment.

There’s no right or wrong here, just what feels right or wrong for you. I’d only say that if you do wish to discard Playbills, recycle, donate, and/or sell instead of putting them in the trash. :)

[UnwoundFantasies]

Please donate them if you can! Housing works in the city accepts them I know. It would be great if you can give them to someone within an organization that donates items for the Broadway flea market (not sure how that works!) Just throwing them in the garbage makes me so sad.