The Broadway Green Alliance is an industry-wide initiative that educates, motivates, and inspires the entire theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices.

The Broadway Green Alliance was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is an ad hoc committee of  The Broadway League and a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.  Along with Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, the BGA is a founding member of the International Green Theatre Alliance. The BGA has reached tens of thousands of fans through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media.

At the BGA, we recognize that it is impossible to be 100% “green” while continuing activity and – as there is no litmus test for green activity – we ask instead that our members commit to being greener and doing better each day. As climate change does not result from one large negative action, but rather from the cumulative effect of billions of small actions, progress comes from millions of us doing a bit better each day. To become a member of the Broadway Green Alliance we ask only that you commit to becoming greener, that you name a point person to be our liaison, and that you will tell us about your green-er journey.

The BGA is co-chaired by Susan Sampliner, Company Manager of the Broadway company of  WICKED, and Charlie Deull, Executive Vice President at Clark Transfer. Rebekah Sale is the BGA’s full-time Coordinator.

We operate primarily through six committees:

Venues Committee: 
This committee deals with all aspects of running greener theatres. Key accomplishments include replacing all of the marquee and outside lighting of Broadway theatres with energy-efficient bulbs (saving approximately 700 tons of carbon per year!); switching to more eco-friendly cleaning products and appliances; recycling and water filtration programs; and energy curtailment and measurement programs. The BGA Venues Committee is co-chaired by Jennifer Hershey of Jujamcyn Theaters and Dana Amendola of Disney Theatrical.

Pre- & Post-Production Committee: 
This committee promotes greener building and disposal of physical productions by making available greener resources for shops, designers, and technical directors. Led by this committee, the Broadway community has begun to adopt some greener methods of disposing of sets from closing productions. For example, 88% of scenery from shows closing in January 2009 was recycled or reused, instead of going to landfill. This committee has held workshops on greener techniques in set and lighting design, and helped closing shows recycle or reuse scenery. This committee is co-chaired by Tony-winning set designer, Donyale Werle, and the head of the set construction shop, Showman Fabricators, Bob Usdin.

Production Committee: 
The Production Committee works to green the practices of running shows, from rehearsal through closing. This committee has helped change a host of backstage practices, including the now widespread use of rechargeable batteries, re-usable water bottles, and reduced paper usage. This committee also conducts periodic e-waste and textile drives for the Broadway community and operates collections of dozens of products from corks to pens to chip bags for recycling and reuse. Important initiatives from the Production Committee include our Green Captains program and the Binder Project.

Outreach Committee: 
This committee works on communications and alliances with others. BGA resources are now available through our website, mobile site, Facebook page, and Twitter, and through our quarterly newsletter, the Green Sheet. This committee has helped the Tony Awards® become greener by using a recycled carpet and hybrid limousines for guests. The Outreach Committee has produced several videos about the BGA, many of which include appearances by our celebrity members. In addition, they have made international contacts on shows in London, Canada and Australia, leading to the formation of the International Green Theatre Alliance (IGTA).

Touring Committee: 
This committee works with touring productions and theaters throughout the country. The Touring Committee conducts periodic surveys of the green resources available at touring venues. Touring shows participating in Clark Transfer’s Touring Green program have offset over 10,000 tons of carbon emissions from moving their equipment by investing in wind power and methane digesters through Native Energy.

Education Committee: 
Our newest committee deals with greening theatre in educational institutions, disseminating greener practices in theatres throughout the education community from high schools to colleges and universities. This committee is chaired by Lisa Mitchell at Disney Theatrical.