Up to 75 percent of materials reused in play productions
Those who attend the shows put on at Drayton Hall Theatre, Longstreet Theatre and the Lab Theatre may not realize all of the work that goes into making a play visually appealing.
The theater budget at USC for set design and production is funded by a combination of box office sales, a general fund from the university and grant money. The annual allotment from the university is used for all aspects of the theater productions, including set design and costumes.
“The theater runs just like a lab,” Theater Department Chair and Artistic Director Jim Hunter said. “Put production into it, and it all comes together at the end. In theater, learning becomes part of practice.”
Set design is a major part of making a play realistic. While time and effort are needed to build sets for the plays performed at the theaters on campus, Hunter says the theater department tries to be as “green” as possible.
“Seventy-five percent of materials used for set design are reused materials,” Hunter said.
Steel is regularly used in set designs because it is easily reused. Hunter added that any lumber that can be recycled is always put back and reused for something else.
“Set design is very cost-effective. The business of theater does have some recyclability,” Hunter said. “Nevertheless, there are some materials that just can’t be recycled.”
Those materials that cannot be reused are taken to a junkyard after the play is done with production. Some pieces have been donated to non-USC productions.
In addition to recycling materials used for set design, costumes are also bought and reused for different plays.
“Any costumes that are bought go into storage, and we pull costumes for a show from there,” Costume Technology Instructor M. Spencer Henderson said.
“If a play is more modern we might shop for costumes because it is more cost-effective. If the play is a period play, we might find it easier and cheaper to make the costumes,” Henderson said.
Cost of an entire production is based on a show-to-show basis.