How Green is MERCURY?
Small, low-budget organizations do not by nature create very large footprints. But going green from the get go allows us to build an infrastructure that will define how we function later, when we’re big, fat and famous. Still in our infancy, we are planting seeds that we hope will one day grow a totally self-sustaining, zero-impact theatrical society.
Rehearsals/Performances
To save energy and money, most of our rehearsals took place in Jeremy’s apartment, and many of our other rehearsal spaces were found or donated. The Tank, too, is a shared, quasi-donated space (which we clean using eco-friendly products). We printed very few double-sided scripts, all on recycled paper. There were many long days that required we purchase take-out, which is never a better choice than communal meals or Tupperware, but our retreat meals were quite organic, quite local and quite vegetarian. Our benefit party/performance featured reusable cups and organic and vegetarian snacks.
Transportation
Our entire cast lives within two miles of our primary rehearsal space, so we walked! And we took the subway and buses everywhere else. We lose many points for driving to Danbury, Mystic, CT and to upstate NY for development retreats, but we did our best to carpool.
Costumes
Sarah Gosnell is a master at freecycling. Nearly all our costumes are borrowed or repurposed, and our laundry is done at green laundromats.
Set/Props
Meredith Ries and Abby Walton scavenge and scour. They have a studio full of stuff for the sole purpose of using it, reusing it and reusing it again. Our paint is organic, our materials are found and our props are borrowed or made from scraps.
Light
The problem of LIGHT is a big one. Theatrical lighting instruments are ENORMOUS and guzzle energy. As far as we have discovered, green lighting is hard to come by, expensive, and not comparable to present instruments, because the technology is still catching up (though check out the Arcola: www.arcolaenergy.com/contribute.) In the past, we’ve used household instruments with CFLs, played with darkness/dimness as artistic choices and toyed with LED alternatives, but so far nothing accessible proves significantly energy-efficient. Any suggestions?
Marketing
We’re quite proud of our fliers: hand-made using a rubber stamp and recycled brown paper bags. But one of our biggest deficiencies lies in the massive computer usage we find nearly impossible to avoid. On one hand, 90% of our marketing takes place online, saving paper and ink and shipping, and that’s GOOD! On the other hand, our computers use a ton of electricity, and most of NYC’s electricity comes from coal, and coal mining totally devastates environments like in southern Appalachia (www.nylovesmountains.com), and that’s BAD.
OUR VISION OF A GREEN SHC FUTURE
We Dream Of:
-Solar/wind-powered spaces to rehearse and perform
-Year-round sources of very local, very organic food
-Sustainable and ecologically sound travel alternatives
-Fully-realized solutions to the problem of light
-A larger community of artistic allies, and a sharing program for reusing/recycling things like set pieces, design materials, resources and space. We envision a website at the center of it all, particularly built for dialogue and trade within the green theatre community.
-Multi-disciplinary collaborations with folks like musicians, painters, farmers, and filmmakers, scientists, environmentalists, astronomers and geologists…
conceived and directed by Jeremy Pickard
created and performed by Brian Belcinski, Alison Marie Bryant*, Tommy Dickie, Danny Gardner*, and Corey Johnson
designed by Emily Caufield, Sarah Gosnell, Jillian Flaherty-Patterson, Meredith Ries, and Abby Walton
produced by Sarah Hughes and Marina McClure for Odyssey Productions, in consultation with The Good Guys (Jonathan Elliott and Marisol Rosa-Shapiro)
Mercury is an Equity Approved Showcase
* These Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
REALITY
Danbury, Connecticut is a real place, and it really was the “Hat City of the World” for a long time.
There really was a Zoe Benedict, and he really did open a hat shop in Danbury in 1780, launching the American hat industry. The other things we know about him, including his serendipitous felt discovery, are probably legend.
Mercury really is a highly toxic heavy metal, and it really did poison 18th and 19th-century milliners, thus begetting the phrase “mad as a hatter.”
The rivers and soil surrounding Danbury, CT really are contaminated with mercury, largely as a result of the old hatting industry. For a while, the milder symptoms of mercury poisoning were called the “Danbury Shakes.” Mercury doesn’t break down as it passes through the soil and water beds, so it’s incredibly difficult to dispose of, and lasts for centuries in certain forms. There really is a grove of 60 cottonwood trees recently planted there. The trees have been biologically-engineered to suck mercury from the soil and sequester it through a process called bioremediation.
Mercury poisoning is very real. We commonly encounter it when eating fish, because fish absorb methylmercury (the most toxic and organic form of mercury) in the plants they eat and the water they swim in. Not long ago people (maybe you!) played with elemental mercury (a.k.a. “quicksilver”) in science class and at home, but though touching elemental mercury is toxic (and awesome), it isn’t nearly as toxic as inhaling it in vapor-form. Intense and long-term exposure to the stuff can result in many dreadful things, including brain damage and death.
Mercury really is a planet. It’s the smallest (now that Pluto’s a dwarf) and the closest to the sun. It revolves very slowly but orbits very quickly. It was probably formed by a collision of two other galactic masses, and a lot of debris from that collision fell all over Earth.
In mythology, Mercury really was the messenger god, and the god of travel, among other things. He invented the lyre (an ancient stringed instrument), and he was responsible for transporting dead people across the River Styx into the Underworld. In Greek he’s called Hermes. He really could fly; there were wings on his hat and on his shoes.
The Star Spangled Banner really did start as a tavern drinking song called the Anacreontic Song, probably written by John Stafford Smith of London’s Anacreontic society in the 1760s. Francis Scott Key wrote the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry” in 1814, and it was his brother who fit the poem to the tune of the Anacreontic song, and it became our national anthem in 1931.
The composer Charles Ives really did grow up in Danbury. Although he is never mentioned in our story, his music can be heard, and the character of The Salesman is loosely based on him. He music is often discordant, filled with juxtaposition and inspired by Americana.
Lewis Carroll really did begin telling his Alice stories on the 4th of July. His Mad Hatter character was most likely based on a famous furniture maker of the time, but Carroll would certainly have known the stereotypical symptoms of hatters at that time.
Several of our cast members really are unemployed. If you would like to hire them, email us at info@superheroclubhouse.org.
Please join us in the creation of endlessly inventive, environmentally-friendly theater!
Your gift, of any size, will hugely impact our artistic endeavors, and it is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
Superhero Clubhouse is produced by Odyssey Productions, Inc., a duly formed 501(c)3 public charity formed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Odyssey has applied to the IRS for tax-exempt status and is simultaneously seeking an advance letter of recognition.
Secure donations can be made online through PayPal:
PITCH IN
GOLD STARS
Jon Levin and Suzan Eraslan at The Tank, Roberta Pereira, David Roberts and Megan Wanlass, Marya Ursin and Dan Potter, Kathy and James Pickard, The Bacewicz Clan, Jon Bulava, Loretta!, Cody Linquist, Jimmy Stagias, Teale Sperling
Gold Stars for Stellar Generosity!
Actors' Equity Association (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 45,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org