For Eden Prairie school theaters, reuse is part of the script

At Eden Prairie high schools, theater departments tap into their creativity for everything from acting to building sets and costumes. They also shine when it comes to sustainability.

Behind the scenes, students and educators practice a spirit of collaboration, resourcefulness and innovation to keep the planet – and their budgets – healthy

“Theater lends itself to sustainability because we never know what we are going to need, show to show, and we want to keep our cost down,” said Laurie Nebeker, an English teacher and theater director at Eden Prairie High School. “We have a short period of time to build sets and put costumes and props together. So reusing and borrowing just lends itself really well to our goals.” 

Nebeker said students today may be more eco-conscious than those in previous generations. “It is pretty ingrained in them,” she said. But the combination of budget and planet consciousness still provides many learning opportunities.

“The creativity that theater requires lends itself to not going out and just getting new materials for things,” she said. “The best way to solve a problem is to use something we already have. It is a nice convergence of mindset and skill set.”

Rob Thompson, director of communications at PiM Arts High School, agrees.

“Our kids are our biggest advocates for keeping things sustainable and reusing as much as we possibly can,” Thompson said.

Something borrowed

Borrowing and lending are key ways schools save their budgets and help the environment.

“Theater, in and of itself, is a collaborative art form, so for years high school theaters have a sort of pact that if we have something from a show, we are willing to share it,” Thompson said. “It’s a really interesting – and, I think, supportive – community in that way. We are all operating on tight budgets, so if we can share the wealth, we will.”

Katie Ross, costumer and costume crew supervisor at Eden Prairie High School, values that sort of relationship. “Everything we have is meant to be shared,” she said. “We really take that to heart. It makes the world a better place.”

“With sites like the Twin Cities High School Directors forum, typically things don’t get thrown away much anymore,” Thompson said, adding that Facebook and other online forums are especially helpful for finding “those seemingly impossible things to find.”

Props with purpose

Professional theaters and theater rental companies also help schools find specific or unique set pieces and props. 

For a recent production of “Singin’ in the Rain,” Thompson said, “We needed a solid sofa that could be walked over in that iconic moment when they flip over the sofa during (the musical number) ‘Good Morning.’ We were having trouble finding a modern-type sofa sturdy enough to do that.”

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres came through with the rental of the perfect sofa for the job.

Another PiM production, “Ride the Cyclone,” sent set designers on a search for carnival items, which they found at a salvage shop.

“We got carnival signs and some old ride cars,” Thompson said. “So that stuff didn’t end up in a junkyard somewhere.”

Sister companies Next Stage Rental & Market and The Costume Collective were created to reduce waste in theater. “The idea is to create more of a circular economy with the local theater industry by creating a home base to store things until they could be used,” said Sara Herman, a co-owner of Next Stage. 

As a technical director and set designer for two high schools in the past, Herman said, “I saw a lot of waste in professional theater, especially. A lot of scenery ends up in the dumpster after a show. I wanted to try and do something about that, because a lot of effort went into the scenery. It’s made professionally and a lot of high schools, I was sure, would love to use them.”

Herman estimates she rents to 75 to 100 schools a year in Minnesota and Iowa.

The Costume Collective, co-owned by Ross, has more than 30,000 costumes and accessories to rent. It opened when two major costuming resources in the Twin Cities closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next Stage and The Costume Collective being under one roof makes for convenient one-stop shopping. 

Cast and recast: Reimagining costumes and sets

Ross, known as “The Costume Lady,” has been costuming Eden Prairie High School theater students for 14 years. “Sustainability has been one of my missions since I started,” she said. “It’s just something you learn in theater because of the budgetary constraints. However, now it’s more fashionable, which is great. I like to have the mindset that whatever we build, we want to be able to reuse to a point.”

When she must procure something, she favors thrift shops. Ross looks for pieces that can be reimagined and used in multiple shows over time. “I never claimed to be a seamstress, but I am a darn good stitcher,” she laughed. “I can make something out of almost nothing.”

“I’m really focused on keeping stuff out of the landfill,” she added. “If I do have to purchase anything in terms of supplies, I try really hard to make sure it’s something environmentally friendly.”

Jay Asfeld maintains all theater spaces at Eden Prairie High School and Central Middle School. As the high school’s technical theater director, he has built sets for many shows and keeps an eye on both the budget and sustainability. 

“We try to reuse as much as we can,” he said. “Basically, we reuse a lot of stuff that would have ended up in a dumpster or the trash. We also reuse and modify furniture for each purpose. We might paint it or change it another way so it can reflect the era of a play.”

Found objects also are creatively reimagined. “On a pretty regular basis I go through the electronics recycling bin at the school,” Asfeld said.

For a recent production of “The Nerd” at Eden Prairie High School, “we took various answering machines and ‘Frankensteined’ a bunch of different pieces of them to make one that looks like it was from the ’80s,” he said.

Reuse and repurpose are watchwords in Ross’ costuming workshop. Fabric scraps, ribbons, shoelaces, hair pins – nothing goes to waste.

Though her students are “understanding of sustainability in a textbook sense, they get hands-on lessons working with me,” she said. “The joke is to always ask Katie if something is trash before you toss it! The only thing that really gets thrown out is the food the kids may be eating that day. Even the (Costco) pretzel containers become storage containers for me.”

Gear that goes the distance

Asfeld uses the summer months to maintain equipment, keeping it out of landfills. “We use a lot of lights still that we’ve had since before the (performing arts center) was built 20 years ago. I spend a big chunk of my summer fixing the lights rather than ordering new ones,” he said.

Other summer projects include checking and repairing the theaters’ audio systems, curtains and floors. He even painted the floors one summer rather than replace them. “They look new again,” he said.

The costumes Ross creates get a similar treatment. “We repair and use things until we can’t repair them anymore,” she said, noting that older things are often of better quality and more durable.

“We try to preserve that craftsmanship,” she added.

Thompson, Asfeld and Ross agree that donations are important to their sustainability efforts. Items that can continually be reimagined – or that are authentic to an era – especially receive a lot of mileage on the stage.

“If you’re cleaning out grandma’s attic, don’t hesitate to call and ask we can use your donations,” Thompson said.

Ross jokes that her friends all know to give her first right of refusal before making Goodwill runs.

“My philosophy is that everything in this world is free,” she said. “You just have to know who to ask. Someone is always getting rid of something. It may be a burden to them, but it is a blessing to us.”

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