Cinema Seats Get the Theatre Experience

When a local cinema company needed to replace 450 theatre seats they contacted Waste Exchange to see if the seats they no longer needed could be reused, rather than being thrown away. An email to various schools and community groups in Canterbury and to South Island Councils produced a swift response. 

	Richard McWha, the Performing Arts Tutor at Linwood College, responded first and collected 100 seats. Linwood College is very supportive of the performing arts curriculum and Richard was in the process of setting up a classroom to act as a dedicated theatre. Larger productions take place in the school hall but for classes, rehearsals and more intimate productions a smaller theatre setting was needed.
	The room had been cleared but the only seating available was wooden forms. Richard’s plan was to build modular seating which could be moved into different formations, and could also be moved into the hall for the larger productions. With help from drama teacher Loretta Schmidt, Richard prepared bases to hold four seats each. Each seat set could then be moved as required, and could be tiered to one and a half metres high by using blocks to raise them up.
	Richard advised that purchasing new theatre seats was not feasible for the College as similar new seats would have cost $170 each. By using the resources offered from the Waste Exchange service and Richard’s clever thinking the school’s budget was spared the cost of $17,000.  The modules have been time consuming to make and heavy to move but have proved a success.