For January, we caught up with Max Reichlin, originator, and Ellie McKay, director of Keep the Light On, a play presented by Annex Theater in Seattle, WA. The show depicts a theater troupe giving performances in a “post-apocalyptic world,” powered only by what energy they can generate themselves.

Max Reichlin, the show’s creator, and Kristina Volkman, Stage Manager, demonstrate a human-powered generator.

Tell us a bit about Keep the Light On. What’s the message of the show?

MAX: With Keep the Light On (KTLO), I’m interested in using sustainable thinking and practices to produce a piece of theatre that is exciting and compelling in its own right. So instead of telling the audience that sustainability is cool, we’re going to show them.

ELLIE: KTLO is unique as the message of the show was not set at the time it was started. It was originally an experiment in lighting and asking others to create around the idea of actor-powered electricity. The show started taking more concrete shape as Max suggested the post-apocalyptic theme. Then, it was up to the playwrights to write their own shows on the theme, and then Max and our dramaturgs’ job to weave them together. During our first meetings with the playwrights, they each spoke in favor of differing genres for their pieces. It has been interesting to see the various drafts of these scripts because they are so starkly different in their moods and content, yet each focuses on family in some way.

How did the idea of the show come together?

MAX: In my work over the last few years, I noticed that theatre is a troubled field when it comes to being green - sets are built and thrown away, various chemicals are used to dye and paint props and costumes, and the lighting uses a tremendous amount of electricity - 500-750 watts per light, sometimes more. Most theatre companies do their best to reuse materials when possible, but I think there is more that can be done. I was trying to think of ways to green our theatre, when I had the idea of pedal-powered theatre. More as an experiment than anything else, I wondered what would happen if you tried to power theatre with just people. It turns out that it’s tricky - people don’t make much power. So the show would look different from a traditional play in terms of the lighting. I thought “When would people actually use people to power a theatre?” I’ve always enjoyed apocalyptic literature and I realized that in a post-apocalyptic world, with no electricity, somebody just might perform theatre this way. So the evening is three plays presented by an imaginary, post-apocalyptic, theatre company.

ELLIE: Well, Max built these wacky generators and asked Annex to do a show using them as the source of electricity. Annex said yes. Max asked me to direct it. I said yes. Max asked some playwrights to write some plays. They said yes. And now we have a show.

From left to right: Max displays the “inverter,” which changes DC current produced by the generator into AC current to power lights; The voltage meter as seen by the person pedaling the generator (The idea is to keep it reading around 12 volts).

What are some of green ways you are powering the show?

MAX: All electrical elements of the show will be powered by two human-powered pedal generators - specifically, all the lights and any electrical sound effects. The actors will be operating the generators and they will be ridden nearly the entire time the audience is in the space - any time without riders will be completely dark, or nearly. Aside from the generators, we will probably use a handful of wind-up flashlights, and other rechargeable light sources.

ELLIE: Our dream is to take Annex Theatre “off the grid” for each performance. This means that the moment the audience enters our space, there is no outside electricity entering the building. To light the hall, maybe we will hook up a car battery to some lights. Actors will be riding the generators on the stage to light the audience’s seats. Bathrooms will be lit by the users providing light with hand-crank flashlights. The heat will be shut off for the duration of the show, and instead of programs we will have a wall with hand-written information on recycled paper for people to read.

Are there ways you are greening the show that are a bit more “behind-the-scenes” (such as communication / coordination with the cast, reducing waste, reusing costumes, etc)?

MAX: We are making a conscious effort to reuse materials for the show. Props will mostly be found objects or props created from discarded materials. The costume design is going to employ a variety of cast-aside materials, including paper bags and aluminum cans, to build some new costumes, while drawing on second-hand sources for most purchased items. Instead of printing programs we will be writing all of the program information on recycled paper and putting it up in the hallway and lounge of our space. Annex already communicates entirely through e-mail and in person, and our posters are printed on recycled paper using recycled ink.

ELLIE: In all of our design elements we are striving for a green esthetic. Our designers have a small budget should they need to purchase items, but as a team we are committed to trying to reuse as much as possible. Our costume designer is researching how to turn both paper and plastic bags into sewable material. She is also looking into using bottles and cans as costume pieces. Our props and sound designers are working together so that the props for the show can double as sound equipment for effects. Our set design will include items found in dumps and at the recycling center. We also hope that throughout the show we will reincorporate set pieces, props, and costumes throughout so as to use what we have to the greatest value.

Who is “Keep the Light On”?

MAX: First of all, the three plays were written by Scot Augustson, Elizabeth Heffron, and the two-headed playwright, Bret Fetzer and Juliet Waller Pruzan. There is a “dramaturg” to oversee the integration of the scripts; that’s Brendan Healy. We have an amazing cast including Pamala Mijatov, Beverly Thompson, Julie Westlin-Naigus, Ciara Griffin, Sam Wilson, Alex Garnett, Megan Ahiers, and Deniece Bleha. The set and lighting are being designed by me and interpreted by our painter Jason Circelli. The costume design is by Emily Carlsen, props design by Alex Harris, and the “aural” (sound) design is by Jason Miller. Our stage manager is Kristina Volkman. And Ellie McKay is directing this whole crazy thing.

What’s been the most surprising thing about putting KTLO together? Most challenging?

MAX: The thing that has surprised me most so far is how excited everyone is about this project. We’ve already gotten great support from the community (special thanks to Wright Bros. Cycles in Fremont and Crankedmag.com!). The Annex staff, our playwrights, our designers, the cast - everyone is really coming up with some wonderful ideas to make this a very exciting evening of theatre.

Learn more about Keep the Light On by visiting them on their website or, if you are in the Seattle area, come see the show! The show runs February 8 to March 8 on Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. at Annex Theatre in Seattle, 1100 E. Pike St. (at the corner of 11th Ave. and Pike). Cost of admission is $12.

Photographs courtesy of David B. Photography.