A life spent in the wings of theaters has made Janet D. Clancy an authority on the mechanics of illusion. She has rigged sets, wired lights and runthe technical end of circuses, ballets, plays, art projects.
It has also made her a witness to mass squander, long after the audiences have left.
Tons of perfectly good materials, worth millions of dollars - fabrics, wood, ropes - are just heaved into Dumpsters at the end of shows and events.
It is staggering: during Fashion Week in Bryant Park, about 75 shows are staged. Runways and sets are built, usually covered in great bolts of fabric or hundreds of yards of Plexiglas and plywood. The shows last about 20 minutes, and everything - in pristine condition - is thrown out so that the next designer can start fresh.
"I just got sick of the waste," Ms. Clancy said. "We can make it rain indoors. We can hold a circus underwater. We've got to do something about it."
