annual College Green Captain Prize

NOW ACCEPTING 2024 APPLICATIONS THROUGH
Earth day, april 22, 2024 AT 5PM ET

College Green Captain Prize for Achievement in Greener Theatre

The Broadway Green Alliance College Green Captain Award is presented annually to an individual or team of student Green Captains working at any level of academic theatre. The award honors students for exceptional work at the intersection of theatre and sustainability. 

The BGA College Green Captain Award Winner Will Receive:

• Two tickets to a current Broadway production, in New York or on the road

• Virtual meet and greet with a Broadway Green Captain

• A case study profile—including photo and bio—featured on the BGA website and in the BGA Green Sheet Newsletter

• Inclusion in press release to multiple theatre publications

• Announcement and feature on BGA social media channels

Eligibility Requirements

Candidates must meet the following qualifications to be eligible for this award:

• You must be a current student enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate at an accredited institution.

• You must be a BGA College Green Captain

• You must submit a complete application by the deadline

• Through the application materials submitted, you must demonstrate:

  • Dedication to your own growth as a sustainable theatre artist

  • A commitment to working at the intersection of theatre and sustainability

Application Materials

Please submit the following materials to info@broadwaygreen.com by Earth Day, April 22, 2024 at 5:00pm ET.

• A one page summary statement explaining your sustainable theatre work over the 2023-2024 academic year.

• Five pictures highlighting this work in action. Each photo must be accompanied by a 1-2 sentence description.

• A short bio (250 words)

• Headshot or photo

• Optional: any other media that supports your one page summary statement.  This might include (but is certainly not limited to) technical drawings, social media posts, short videos, cue lists, or renderings.

Inspiration on Where to Start

The BGA College Green Captain Award is not limited to a particular theatrical discipline or project. We encourage students to think creatively and proactively about ways to integrate change into their existing programs. Past Award Winners have implemented change in both department and extracurricular theatre programs.

Sustainable theatre projects can involve—but are not limited to—presenting theatrical productions in a greener manner (e.g. alternate materials, energy, lighting, costumes or set pieces); running the show in a greener manner (e.g. energy-efficient lighting, rechargeable batteries, or educating the cast and crew about better practices); striking the production in a way that reduces waste (e.g. re-use, recycling, or composting); or changing front-of-house operations to reduce waste and encourage greener audience practices (e.g. alternative advertising, programs, or tickets).

Questions?

For more information about the BGA College Green Captain Award, please email info@broadwaygreen.com.

Past Winners

2023 | Emory Otto | University of Oklahoma

• Emory created the OU Green Alliance Toolkit with her faculty advisor, Renee Brode, that serves as a living document for the School of Drama.

• Emory developed a carbon-neutral production of Tick, Tick... Boom! with her friend, Attie Marshall, who served as the stage manager and Green co-Captain on the production.

• Emory and volunteers from the School of Drama created a Green Board in the Fine Arts Center that promotes the conversation of sustainability.

• Emory spearheaded a plastic recycling drive at the School of Drama through Bags to Benches, a non-profit organization in Austin, Texas, that will turn their plastic waste into benches to be placed on the OU campus.

2019-2020 | Emma Roth | Boston University

Emma worked alongside other students and faculty members to create the GRiT initiative (Green Responsibility in Theatre) to significantly reduce waste, provide general sustainability education, transition to an entirely paperless program, and encourage zero waste productions. She recognizes that for this change to be successful, it must operate on three levels of the school and theatre: Administration, Production, and Classroom.

Emma was also part of the youth panel for our Climate Positive virtual learning session in June 2020 - Click the video to watch!

Administration highlights:

-Worked with faculty and staff to phase out paper programs and implemented sustainable options like posters and QR codes to limit excess waste.
-Helped implement paper recycling bins and helpful signage.
-Invested in a snack and candy wrapper recycling box from TerraCycle to help curb waste during tech weeks and rehearsals.
-Received a grant from BU to set up compost bins in the Booth Theatre Complex through Bootstrap Compost.

Classroom highlights:

- Worked with faculty to cut back on unnecessary curricula materials.
-Encouraged professors to incorporate more climate-centric learning modules.
-Created “Did You Know?” posters to increase general sustainability knowledge across campus.
-Speaks with other students at departmental meetings to increase reach of sustainability initiatives.

Production highlights:

- Worked to procure electrical waste, battery recycling bins, and use rechargeable mic packs.
- Encouraged fabric recycling in the costume shop and influenced the creation of reusable bags made form unusable costumes.
- Working to change the loading dock situation to ensure construction waste can be recycled.

2018 | Tonya Ingerson (vassar College, NY) | Grace Urquhart (William Jewell College, MI)

Tonya’s project was called “Environmental Education and Awareness Through Theatre.” She hosted a Climate Change Play Festival at Vassar in which she put on 8 plays from Climate Change Theatre Action’s repertoire. She wanted the festival to be as green as possible so it was zero waste, the food was all vegan, everything was paperless from the advertising to the auditions, she educated the audience and the students working on the plays, and the costumes and props were all either borrowed or made from materials they already had.

Grace started several initiatives in the theatre department to make it more environmentally friendly. She encouraged the switch to rechargeable batteries in mic packs; changed out the old incandescent bulbs to LED bulbs; recycled old screws and other metal hardware; turned old fabric from costumes into dog toys that were then donated to the local shelter; started a waste tracking system that they now use on all of their shows; encouraged the use of greener materials to build sets; and continued to use energy efficient washers and dryers.

Congratulations to Tonya and Grace!

2017 | Winner: olivia ranseen (indiana university, IN) | runner up": Chloe Martins (Drew University, NJ)

Read more about their projects here.

2016 | Jade zaroff | emerson college, ma

Jade founded the Emerson Green Gala and worked to make it as environmentally friendly as possible. It included information booths, recycled programs, vegan and vegetarian food, and all of the programming was centered around the theme of sustainability. Congratulations to Jade for all of her hard work!

2015 | travis blackwell | university of Memphis, tn

Travis won the College Green Captain Prize in 2015 for his efforts to make his theatre department greener. He helped to make environmental awareness a part of daily life by including "Green Facts" in all paperwork and emails sent to the cast and production team. Congratulations to Travis!