HOW GREEN IS VENUS?
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
Most of our rehearsals took place at Chez Bushwick, a LEED-certified facility. We printed minimal scripts and used recycled paper. The alternative was laptops, which waste a lot of energy. Computer usage and script printing are hurdles we are still attempting to solve.
Transportation
We walked and took the subway and buses to rehearsals. But our greatest failure was gasoline. In order to transport people and props to our rehearsal spaces in Brooklyn, we made many trips to and from Queens, and some into Manhattan to deliver our set pieces to the performance space.
Costumes
Nearly all our costumes are borrowed or repurposed, and our laundry is done at green laundromats.
Set/Props
Most of our props and set pieces were borrowed or free. Most of what we purchased (i.e. various lighting equipment) was a long-term investment; items we will use many more times in future productions. Our paint is organic, our materials are found and our props are borrowed or made from scraps.
Our food props were completely vegan, and our ingredients were purchased at a small green food store in Brooklyn. Though we did face the conundrum of wasting some food (i.e. throwing pancakes onto the floor), we decided it was more green to use organic materials than to, say, purchase plastic pancakes.
Light
We made a small step/giant leap in the green direction by predominantly using our own fluorescent lighting, and a very minimal amount of theatrical lighting provided by the Fringe. Fluorescents have recently been discovered to be nearly as efficient as LEDs (when taking into account the energy used in manufacturing and of the actual wattage), and we were thrilled to begin experimenting with alternative lighting instrumentation.
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…
written and directed by Jeremy Pickard
created and performed by Katia Asche*, Brian Belcinski, Olivia Gilliatt, Maria Portman Kelly*, Dan Lawrence, Tina Mitchell,
Brian O'Neal, Kelsey Siepser, Dave Sleswick
stage managed by Carly Hoogendyk
designed by Emily Caufield (graphic design), Matt Rocker (musical direction & sound), Teale Sperling (props), Owen Walz (cartographic design), Solomon Weisbard (lights)
assistant direction by Marguerite French
dramaturgy by Teale Sperling
fight choreography by Alicia Rodis
produced by Elizabeth Moreau and Odyssey Productions (Marina McClure) in consultation with The Good Guys (Jonathan Elliott and Marisol Rosa-Shapiro)
with additional support from Danny Gardner, Sarah Hughes, Alex Krasser, Nicholas Morgan
*These actors are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association. VENUS is an Equity Approved Showcase.
REALITY
Venus really was the goddess of love (and beauty, and peace) to many ancient cultures. Her Greek counterpart was Aphrodite, and in some stories she really was born out of the sea in a somewhat miraculous birth. She really was consistently curious about Earthlings, as was her son Cupid (aka Eros). She was married to Vulcan (god of fire and the forge; where we get the word "volcano") and really did have a long-standing, infamous affair with Mars (god of war, and cattle, aka Ares). Their soap-operatic pairing has become synonymous with gender debates, with opposites attracting, with two halves of the same whole, with Red Planet and White.
The planet Venus really is the morning star, and the evening star. Many ancient people believed that it was two separate bodies, and gave different names to each (i.e. Vesper and Lucifer). Venus' day really is longer than its year, and it spins in retrograde, so the sun rises in the West. And it really is an almost-perfect sphere, just a smidgeon smaller than Earth.
Venus really is Hell. Its surface is 900 degrees Fahrenheit, 92 Earth atmospheres of pressure (the equivalent of being 20 miles below sea level) and is covered in strange, unwieldy volcanoes. Its atmosphere is thick with clouds of carbon dioxide and sulfur. The sun's rays bounce off the clouds, making it the third brightest object in the sky (to our eyes).
Until Russia's Venera* spacecraft landed on Venus' surface in 1967, scientists and fiction writers alike fantasized about a watery, life-teemed paradise hidden under the clouds, and were seriously disappointed to learn the truth. In fact, there may have been oceans on Venus in the distant past, but what was most likely a runaway greenhouse effect (the same fate that our own climate-changed Earth might be heading towards) caused Venus to become the lifeless, boiling, volatile wasteland we know it as today.
There really are alien volcanoes called Pancake Domes on Venus. Their lava is viscous (like batter) and forms a distinctly pancake-like shape when they erupt. There are other weird volcanoes on Venus; some look like spiders, some look like ticks, some are just unfathomably enormous.
There really is an area in SE Alpha Regio (a region of Venus equivalent in size to a small country) called Seoritsu Farra (named after an important female, like all features on Venus), but there is not really a man-made complex. If there is ever interest and money enough for humans to land on the surface of Venus, it will not be in our lifetimes.
Caroline Herschel really was an accomplished astronomer. We portray her somewhat anachronistically (and non-specifically) in our play, but she actually lived and worked in the late 18th/early 19th century. In 1780 she helped her brother William double the size of the known universe by discovering the planet Uranus. A trained musician, a German ex-patriot, a saint-like assistant and eventually a learned astronomer celebrated by the British royalty for her expertise and findings, Caroline was a unique character, especially for her gender and status at the time.
Small towns really do host pancake breakfasts in their local firehouses.
Pancakes really do taste better when someone else makes them for you.
*Fun Fact: the grammatically-correct adjective meaning "from Venus" is "venerean," but because it carries too strong a connotation with venereal disease (an STD). "venusian" (or venutian) is now the widely accepted adjective. Cytherean (taken from the island of Cythera, where the Venus myth most likely originated) is also used, but is also technically inaccurate.
OUR GOAL FOR VENUS
To simplify the show so that it becomes easily tourable, and then tour it to various small towns, performing in large, non-theatrical community spaces like firehouses.
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
Rob Strong, Ali Skye Bennet, Danny Gardner, Sarah Hughes, Nick Morgan, Kathy and Jim Pickard, Owen Walz, the folks at Chez Bushwick & The Bushwick Starr, Connie Hall/Conni's Avant Garde Restaurant, Ben Williams, SITI Company.
VENUS was developed in June-July 2009 with Minneapolis' Upright Egg Theatre Company. Participants included Leah Adcock-Starr, Mark Benzel, Mandy Morgan, Matt Riggs, Rachel Schlee, Larissa Shea, Mari Troshynski, Brian Watson-Jones.
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
