Retooling Green Tools for Theatre in Africa

Taiwo Afolabi presented the conversation Retooling Green Tools for Theatre in Africa livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Wednesday 19 July at 9 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 7 p.m. EAT (Nairobi, UTC + 3).

Greening the theatre is crucial to the sustainability of theatre and the planet. Theatre designers such as lighting personnel, set designers, costumers, property designers, and sound engineers are rethinking and retooling for the purpose of creating a more eco-friendly, sustainable, and environmentally just and responsible theatre practice. In this episode, we bring theatre practitioners (such as designers and eco-scenographers) who are advancing sustainable artistic values in their practice. We explored how sustainability plays a significant role in creating an ecologically conscious theatre. For instance, what needs to be considered in the creative process? How does the choice of materials, the use of colors, arrangements, recycling etc. support the green movement? Furthermore, what are the challenges encountered by scenographers and designers in their attempts to construct sustainable stage? What is needed for theatre designers on the African continent to employ ecological designs for theatre performances?

Panelists

Adam Marple (Egypt) is the Co-Artistic Director of the internationally recognized The Theatre of Others and the co-host of The Theatre of Others Podcast (with listeners in over 80 countries and in the top 5% of podcasts worldwide). He is also the founder of The Sustainable Theatre Network, an international partnership of over 15 theatre schools and organizations from every continent dedicated to researching, creating, codifying, and amplifying less wasteful theatre practices worldwide for use at all levels of theatre-making. He has been practicing and teaching Viewpoints for over twenty-five years having worked with its founders Mary Overlie, Anne Bogart, and Tina Landau. His research centers on the expansion and testing of Viewpoints as an Interdisciplinary and Transcultural pedagogy. Published: "The Viewpoints as Transcultural Pedagogy in Western Theatre" in Global Contexts: Directing and Teaching Culturally Inclusive Drama around the World (Routledge) and "Applying the Viewpoints to Multimedia Performance" (Global Performance Studies).

Mawukplorm Harriet Abla Adjahoe (University of Cape Coast, Ghana) is a theatre practitioner a researcher, and an educator whose works centers on the place and power of arts amid sustainability issues. Particularly, her current research interest stems from the many incidents of flooding coupled with the high risks of health hazards associated with waste. Mawukplorm holds a Bachelor of Arts (Theatre Studies) from University of Cape Coast and an MPhil (Theatre Arts) from University of Ghana where she developed a pictorial representation of the history and trends of set design in Ghana for a span of forty years. With over a decade of spirited practice, she is keen on researching into performing arts practices and social and behavioral change; arts history; and promotion of alternative materials for technical theatre practices. She actively participated in a two year arts workshop for children where she taught props making with waste materials to incite the interest of recycling at an early age. In 2016, she co-founded and became the administrator of The Oguaaman Performance Studio (TOPS) operating under the auspices of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Cape Coast, and subsequently becoming the Artistic Director. As Artistic Director she successfully superintended a number of outreach programs in Senior High Schools in the Central and Western Regions. She was a Demonstrator at the Department of Theatre and Film Studies from 2016 to 2019. She is currently a PhD candidate awaiting her final oral examination.

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing-arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected] or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal. View the video archive of past events.