Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company Releases Green Theater Choices Toolkit

Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego's community-focused, socially-conscious, Equity theater company, today announced the completion of their Green Theater Choices Toolkit, a series of scorecards that rates the environmental impact of materials used in theater production. The completed 24-page Toolkit can be downloaded from the Company's website, www.moolelo.net, by clicking on Green Mo`olelo.

In 2008, Mo`olelo received an A-ha! Think it, Do it grant funded by MetLife and administered by the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) to research and develop a tool to measure the environmental impact of theater and help the industry make choices that do not cause long-term damage to our communities. Mo`olelo teamed up with Brown & Wilmanns Environmental, LLC, adapting their "Green Choices" methodology to the theater field. Scenic Designer David F. Weiner, Costume Designer Jeannie Galioto, and Lighting Designer Jason Bieber consulted on the project that was spearheaded by Mo`olelo's Artistic Director Seema Sueko and culminated in the creation of the Green Theater Choices Toolkit.

"The Toolkit demonstrates how some of the more commonly used materials in theater, like lauan wood products or polystyrene, are terribly destructive to the environment and contain possible human carcinogens," said Sueko. "Our hope is that this Toolkit can be used not only by theater practitioners to help them select better materials for their work, but also by manufacturers and vendors to see the opportunity that lies before them to develop environmentally friendlier products."

The Green Theater Choices Toolkit is the latest output of Mo`olelo's Greening Initiative, which was launched in January 2007 through which Mo`olelo published their Green Theater Categories and Sustainable Guidelines on their website in June 2007.

Mo`olelo's greening work has received national recognition and has been replicated by companies across the United States. When the Broadway community launched Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) in 2008 they turned to Mo`olelo's Categories and Guidelines as their blueprint.

"One of the very best resources for greening theater at that time was the Mo`olelo website," said Charlie Deull, Co-Chair of BGA. "We are now featuring Mo`olelo's Green Theater Choices Toolkit prominently on the BGA website and heard from others involved in the field that they are using it also. Mo`olelo is making a huge difference."

Profiles

Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company - Founded in 2004, Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company is a socially-conscious theatre organization dedicated to broadening the scope of San Diego's cultural environment by telling powerful stories that are as diverse as the islands of Hawaii, by paying Equity wages to local actors and by developing environmentally-friendly theatre practices. Selected as the inaugural Resident Theatre Company at La Jolla Playhouse for 2008-2009, Mo`olelo is a recipient the Patté, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, McDonald Playwriting and the Anti-Discrimination Awards. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Mo`olelo's mission is to create new works based on research within various communities, produce lesser-known works by master and contemporary playwrights, and educate youth. Mo`olelo means story in Hawaiian. To learn more, visit www.moolelo.net or call 619-342-7395.

Theatre Communication Group (TCG) - Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, exists to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. Founded in 1961, TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through our conferences, events, research and communications; grants approximately $2 million per year to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level and serves as the US Center of the InterNational Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is the nation's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 10 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on our booklist; it also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre.

In 2005, TCG received the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in recognition of its impact on the national field. TCG and its member theatres are major contributors to the American theatre sector, which employs more than 131,000 people, produces over 202,000 performances each year and contributes $1.9 billion to the US economy annually. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, TCG is led by executive director Teresa Eyring and governed by a national board of directors representing the theatre field. www.tcg.org.

MetLife/TCG A-ha! Think it, Do it program - Launched in 2008, the MetLife/TCG A-ha! Think it, Do it program is a granting program for TCG member theatres that supports creative thinking and action in two ways: Think It grants give theatre professionals the time and space for research and development, Do It grants support the implementation and testing of new ideas.

Brown & Wilmanns Environmental, LLC - Brown & Wilmanns Environmental, LLC is nationally recognized for its leadership and support for cutting-edge environmental and social responsibility performance in industry, nonprofits, and government. For nearly a decade, Michael S. Brown and Eric Wilmanns have assisted clients in establishing effective strategies that integrate social responsibility goals with business opportunities. Combining technical expertise with management and operational experience, the firm provides clients with a wide range of support in the pursuit of a sustainable level of excellence. http://www.bw-environmental.com/index.htm

David F. Weiner, Scenic Designer - David has designed for Broadway and national and international tours. For Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company: Cowboy Versus Samurai, Permanent Collection, Night Sky, Good Boys, and 9 Parts of Desire. Elsewhere in San Diego, David has designed for La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Rep, Diversionary Theater, Sledgehammer Theater, AART, Renaissance, and others. David has been the scene shop foreman for La Jolla Playhouse and the UCSD Dept of Theater and Dance for the past 10 years.

Jeannie Galioto, Costume Designer - Jeannie has a B.S. and a MFA in Costume Design. She has been designing costumes for the last eighteen years. Her credits include productions for the Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Asian American Repertory Theatre, The History Theatre, The Guthrie Lab, Mixed Blood Theatre, and Shakespeare in the Park to name a few. She has also taught at SDSU and FIDM, and does millinery, fashion design, and styling work. She is currently working as a costume craft artisan at La Jolla Playhouse and is an Assistant Professor and Costume Shop Manager at University of San Diego. Please visit her website to see more of her work at jeanniegalioto.com.

Jason Bieber, Lighting Designer - Mo`olelo: Cowboy Versus Samurai (2007 Patté Award) Permanent Collection, Night Sky (2008 Patté Award), Good Boys, and 9 Parts of Desire. Old Globe Theatre & USD: Since Africa, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Richard III. Starlight: My Fair Lady and Nine. Diversionary/Moxie Theatre: Bluebonnet Court; New Village Arts: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Orphans, Prelude to a Kiss; 6th @ Penn: Antigone, A Skull in Connemara. North Coast Rep: Charlie's Aunt. Young Playwrights Project: Plays by Young Writers 2002, Plays by Young Writers 2004; Plays by Young Writers 2005; J-Company: Henry and Ramona, Suds, Seussical the Musical.

Broadway Green Alliance - Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is an industry-wide initiative to educate, motivate and inspire the theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices in theatrical production and everyday life. www.broadwaygreen.com

Charlie Deull, Co-Chair, Broadway Green Alliance - Charlie Deull is an Executive Vice President witH Clark Transfer, Inc. He served for many years as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Scholastic Inc. and before that practiced law with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton. He has taught courses and volunteered for many years with not-for-profit organizations involved in international development and is the co-author of Working Together; NGO Cooperation in Seven African Countries.

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