Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Writing your adaptation Q's

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   A friend wants to do a choral presentation at her school where she is the choir director of some of the songs from The Night Before Christmas. She would throw in some dialogue from the book, some songs from the movie and since it would be for their Christmas choir concert-no admission charged.

I would be doing some lighting effects for her and it would be on a bare stage in their cafeteria.

Does anyone see any infringement of copyright laws here? My thought was that since she is using lines from the original book to tie the story together between some of the songs, and songs come from the movie, not a stage production...and there would be no posters or programs or admission charged....that she could probably do it without worry.

But knowing some of the expertise we have here...I thought I'd run it up the ol flag pole and see what you all might have to say.

Ideas?

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DaedalusAZ Walk-On Joined: 8/24/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: Writing your adaptation Q's Posted: 8/31/08 at 4:25am
	A friend wants to do a choral presentation at her school where she is the choir director of some of the songs from The Night Before Christmas. She would throw in some dialogue from the book, some songs from the movie and since it would be for their Christmas choir concert-no admission charged. I would be doing some lighting effects for her and it would be on a bare stage in their cafeteria. Does anyone see any infringement of copyright laws here? My thought was that since she is using lines from the original book to tie the story together between some of the songs, and songs come from the movie, not a stage production...and there would be no posters or programs or admission charged....that she could probably do it without worry. But knowing some of the expertise we have here...I thought I'd run it up the ol flag pole and see what you all might have to say. Ideas?

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skoehler Lead Joined: 5/19/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 37	Posted: 8/31/08 at 7:37am
	I am not sure about the timing of the movie or book, but the poem should be public domain. Anything else written around the 30's or 40's on is still protected and probably always will be thank to Mickey Mouse. Odds are she would get away with it, but that does not make it legal, or the right thing to do. As educators shouldn't setting the example be more importnat than "getting away with it"?
	Steven Koehler Managing Director Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette www.lafayettecivic.org
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skoehler Lead Joined: 5/19/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 37	Posted: 8/31/08 at 7:38am
	I just noticed that you are from the UK, sorry to miss that before. I am not familiar with copywright law across the pond, but am pretty sure that it is pretty close to what we have in the US.
	Steven Koehler Managing Director Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette www.lafayettecivic.org
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B-M-D Celebrity Joined: 11/03/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 346	Posted: 8/31/08 at 2:23pm
	Oh yeah you could be in for a world of troubles if you don't get permission to use the music or songs. You might want to start off going to ASACAP at www.ascap.com and BMI at www.bmi.com. They may not be able to secure the permission for using the songs but they may be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck!
	BD "Dying is easy, comedy is hard."
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jayzehr Celebrity Joined: 8/11/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 537	Posted: 8/31/08 at 5:05pm
	The Night Before Christmas (the poem) was written in the nineteenth century so it has to be public domain. And there are plenty of well known Christmas songs that are also public domain if you're using your own arrangements.
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