The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) has announced that Emory Otto will receive the annual College Green Captain Award for her work to improve the environmental practices of the University of Oklahoma’s theater department. Otto started sustainable projects throughout different theatrical productions, developed a sustainable toolkit and bulletin board for the school and created the role of Green Representative in the school’s theater department.
The BGA, created in 2008, aims to educate and advance the theater community in terms of its sustainable practices. It has collaborated with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to accomplish these goals, bringing together all sectors of the theater industry from Broadway, regional and international communities. Some practices BGA has encouraged include energy-efficient lighting, rechargeable batteries, recycling, composting and digital scripts and scores. The College Green Captain Program was designed to encourage university students and faculty to incorporate more sustainable practices like these in their theater departments.
The College Green Captain Award was thus created to acknowledge students for outstanding environmental initiatives. Winners are given resources and mentorship from the BGA to help further develop their ideas, as well as two tickets to a Broadway production and a virtual meeting with a Broadway Green Captain. Currently 97 colleges and universities participate in this program, with 1,234 current and former Green Captains on Broadway.
“Winning the BGA Green Captain Award is the acknowledgement that small actions can really make a difference,” said Otto. “It can spark discussions, produce new ideas and inspire others to find their voice in a global conversation…Winning this award is encouragement for my own School of Drama program to keep the conversation of sustainability going and committing (and recommitting and recommitting) to new sustainable goals and being open to learning in the process.”
“Emory’s innovative and creative leadership are an inspiration to all of us working at the intersection of theater and sustainability,” said BGA director Molly Braverman. “We are thrilled that this award shines a spotlight on the entire College Green Captain program and the everyday activism occurring behind the scenes in college theater departments across the country.”
This year’s runners-up for the award were Samantha Burton of the University of Scranton, and Rider University’s Juliette Maners and Bailey Poe. Additional information about the program, the award and the BGA can be found here.
