But what if you could take a bigger piece of the stage home with you? That’s where Scenery Bags comes in.
One of the most special parts of seeing a Broadway show is getting to take a piece of it home with you — whether it be a Playbill, a commemorative show cup or stray confetti.
But what if you could take a bigger piece of the stage home with you? That’s where Scenery Bags comes in. The eco-conscious accessories brand transforms discarded Broadway materials into coveted, limited-edition fashion and home pieces. While Earth Day sheds temporary light on theof waste thrown away globally each year, Scenery Bags is dedicated to reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills year-round.
Backdrops, costumes, stage floors and more are upcycled into one-of-a-kind items, allowing customers to own an irreplaceable fragment of performance history while reducing theatrical waste.
“I started this company as my love letter to the theater community,” Founder and CEO Jennifer Kahn said. “I love everything that theater is doing: the storytelling that’s happening, the stories that are being championed and the way it makes people think. The one thing we’re missing is what we’re doing on the back end to the environment.
” Kahn worked as a professional stage manager for 17 years on Broadway productions like “Spring Awakening” and across the country at La Jolla Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse and the national tour of “In The Heights. ” But one part of the process always weighed on her — at the end of a show’s run, when everything would get thrown out.
Kahn had always been interested in sustainability, running a blog with her sister for four years about giveback and ethical style, and Scenery Bags was a way to merge those two parts of her life.
“My friends used to make fun of me, because I would hoard any kind of disposable prop or discarded Playbill and make them into closing gifts for people,” Kahn said. “This was very much a part of who I was well before I had any idea that I would be doing this professionally.
” Several artistic elements of a theater production end up in landfills — backdrops cannot be composted because of their chemical fireproofing treatment, and laminated show decks are made up of synthetic fibers that can take thousands of years to break down. Often, throwing out these pieces of art is the most cost-effective option. When Kahn came up with the idea for Scenery Bags in 2015, she immediately turned to the Broadway community for help.
She approached her friends and contacts in the industry and asked them to give her their trash to upcycle.
“The Broadway community was so excited about this, because they don’t want to throw stuff away either,” Kahn said. “We come in and say: we’re actually gonna save you money. You don’t have to pay to throw it away; we will take it and ship it. We break down every barrier for them to be able to say yes to us rather than throw it away.
” In 2017, Scenery Bags was finally up and running. The brand’s first launch of 25 bags sold out within hours, and they then reached 4,000 preorders in 24 hours. Each product is handmade in the USA, with featured shows like “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” “Suffs,” “Cabaret,” “Beetlejuice,” and more. The brand has collected nearly 40,000 pounds of theatrical waste through their catalog, which includes bags, bookends, pillows, keychains and jewelry.
Scenery Bags also donates 10% of all proceeds from every purchase to the Theater Development Fund. The company has donated over $100,000 to TDF’s Introduction to Theater program — which helps middle and high school students attend free live performances — and accessibility programming, including sensory-friendly and sign language performances.
“I feel like we’re losing this next generation because they don’t have access to theater, and that was really where my heart went immediately,” Kahn said. “We believe that access to the theater should be access for everyone. I’m so proud of the work TDF is doing and that we get to be a part of it. ” In the future, Kahn is looking to expand the manufacturing arm of Scenery Bags beyond theater.
The wider the scope, the more waste that can be upcycled to further increase the positive environmental impacts. The Broadway community has embraced Kahn’s company with open arms, and customers have shared stories about how special it is to own a unique piece of their theatrical memories — including Broadway debuts — forever.
“We all operate in this very finite, ephemeral world of theater where every moment is there for an instant and then gone forever,” Kahn said. “To hold a tangible piece of that memory is really rare for us, and I didn’t realize at first how meaningful that would be. I’m constantly bowled over by the effect it’s having on people.
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