Heat is the first play to be powered solely by alternative energy.
"It's the first time it's ever been done, probably because we were the only people crazy enough to try it," writer and co-producer Lynda Chanwai-Earle said yesterday.
"It's powered completely off the grid. All the lights and sound are powered by a solar panel and a wind turbine.
"It's no gimmick. Heat is based in the Antarctic, where conservation awareness issues are very much to the fore and they are inherent messages in the play.
"So it was an opportunity to do something completely innovative in theatre that had never been done before."
Chanwai-Earle said the new theatre technology was inspired by growing concerns over the environment.
"I started writing the play in 2000, about the time we were becoming more aware of climate change issues and things like the hole in the ozone layer."
Heat premiered at Bats Theatre in Wellington in 2008.
"It was very satisfying to do, but it was also very challenging, because it wasn't cheap to set up. We have specially designed theatre lights which have LEDs as powerful as halogen lights, but they only draw 3% of the power. To put it in context, an average theatre production uses enough power for 80 houses. This one uses less than 3% of the power of one house."
Heat, which Chanwai-Earle describes as "a love triangle between a man a woman and a penguin", opens at 8pm today in the Settlers Festival Theatre, at the Settlers Museum, and runs until Saturday.
