What you can and cannot do
There are some things you can do to a script, and, of course, many others you can�t do. I adapted (with permission) the following list from a set of performance regulations prepared and updated for Britain�s National Operatic and Dramatic Association by Jonathan Simon of the Really Useful Group, who is also a member of the Performing Right Society Limited, the British equivalent of the U.S. performance rights societies ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. The list is completely applicable to U.S. copyright laws. The British version was published in the United Kingdom theatre newsletter NODA News North West. Editor David Lewis, in granting me permission to adapt these guidelines, said that this �is one area that needs constantly to be kept in the minds of directors, producers, and anyone else involved in running amateur theatre.�
1. Dramatic works (plays and musicals). No public performance or public reading of a copyright protected play or musical play may be given, either in its entirety or in the form of excerpts, without a license to perform it having been obtained in advance from the copyright owner (usually through a representative agency in the business of licensing and collecting royalties for subsidiary performance rights, which may also be in the business of publishing plays). In the case of a musical play, the rights licensed by the royalty house are referred to as grand performing rights. The requirement to license excerpts includes monologues and scenes presented for adjudication. It is especially important to apply early for permission to use such excerpts, since some authors do not allow them to be taken from some works. For instance, Thornton Wilder�s will prohibits the performance of any cuttings from his plays, including Our Town.
2.
Unstaged concerts of excerpts from musicals
and other music. So long as the rendition is
not dramatic (see
number 4), it is always permissible
to perform music that was not originally part of
a musical play with a license from a performance
rights society such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. It
is also normally permissible to perform excerpts
from musical plays with a license from a performance
rights society, provided that the excerpt:
� Is not a complete act of the musical play.
� Does not constitute an abridged version of the
musical play.
� Is performed without any change to either music
or lyrics.
� Is performed using only published or authorized
musical arrangements.
� Makes no use of any form of scenery, costume,
choreography (other than minimal movement), staging,
character representation, or special lighting�even
if such elements are not designed to imitate or recall
any production of the musical play.
In many cases theatres, halls, and other venues (including the auditorium in many high schools) may have a blanket license from one or more performance rights societies (a license to perform all the repertoire licensed by ASCAP, BMI, and/or SESAC). This should be determined beforehand and, in the absence of such a license, application should be made to the performance rights society (or societies) that licenses the music to be used.
The rights licensed by performance rights societies are referred to as small performing rights. Any performance that does not fall within the above provisions cannot be subject to a performance rights society or �small� rights license.
3. Staged concerts and revues. Many revues devised and/or compiled and previously performed by professionals are available from licensing agencies under the same licensing conditions that apply to musical plays. If the intention is to stage (with costumes and/or scenery and/or movement) an original revue or compilation show, then if any of the content originates in a musical play, permission (which may or may not be forthcoming) must be sought in advance from the licensing agency representing the copyright owner. If the song(s) or music concerned are not originally from a musical play, then it is probable that their performance could be covered by a performance rights society license, so long as the performance is not to be a dramatic rendition of the music (see number 4). This should be checked in advance with the performance rights society and/or the music publisher that holds the copyright on the music. Permission to perform revue sketches must be obtained in advance from the authors� agents who, if the use is approved, will issue licenses upon payment of appropriate fees.
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This page last updated on Sunday, May 4, 2008