Dumpster diving is the art of sifting through someone’s garbage in hopes of finding a treasure. The process can be rewarding or discouraging, which is a lesson the crew of “Still Life With Iris” has discovered over the course of three months.
Since the beginning of the semester, 30 students have been preparing for the premier of “Still Life With Iris” by digging through the dumpsters on campus for reusable material.
In hopes of reducing their carbon footprint, the students have built the entire show out of materials they found dumpster diving, donated materials or what they already had in the theater department.
“It has been a group effort to get everything we need,” set director Andrew Christianson said. “Two weeks ago an entire corner of Strother was filled with a huge pile of crud that we could dig through and find what we need.”
“Still Life With Iris” is a magical play that tells the story of a young girl’s journey to return home. The play is set in a fantasy land where in which the workers make, by night, all of the things we see in the world by day.
90 percent of all the materials used were found on campus.
Chris Seifert, a freshman theater design and technology major, used recycled bed frames, donated pallets, thrown away treasures and trash to build a tunnel that covers the west wall of Strother Theater.
“We got the bed frames from a dorm on campus, and the pallets from different departments,” Seifert said. “We’ve been really lucky to find most of what we need in our own backyard.
The project had students trying new things and putting their imagination to good use. Sophomore acting major Nancy Hale has taken a step out of acting and tried her hand at props.
Her hands moved quickly as she arranged plastic in piles and began cutting the tops off of the plastic bottles. She sat campfire style, paying close attention to the movement of the x-acto knife clutched in her grip.
“It’s just like arts and crafts for adults,” Hale said. “The play is so out there that what we throw together can be out there too. We’ve found new ways to use pipes, hole punches, buttons and jars. It has been really eye opening.
The concept of using recycled material came from director Wendy Saver. Saver has been trying to reduce her carbon footprint in her own life and brought the concept into her work.
The project has challenged those involved to think of new ways to accomplish tasks.
“We don’t realize all the products that harm our environment,” Saver said. “It has become so natural for us to take the easy route, and we’ve been challenged to stray away from that this semester.”
The crew worked with a budget of zero dollars to start the project and buy materials, making them completely rely on reused materials.
The only aspect of the show that didn’t cut back on its carbon footprint is the lighting and sound. To combat this aspect, the group of students will plant 50 trees at the John Craddock Wetland Nature Preserve.
Freshman acting major Jake Milligan is one of the student’s participating, and to make sure the trees survive the heat, he will water them periodically this summer.
“If we care for them and help them grow, they can last for hundreds of years,” he said.
“Still Life With Iris” opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 for students and $9 for the general public.
