Royalties and rentals for musicals that are licensed by the major agencies are, unfortunately, keyed to the anticipated gross at capacity for your performance space. That's why they are asking so many questions. If you are planning a musical, you must have some idea of a location (or locations) where it might be performed, and what the seating capacity is at each. You also should have some idea what other community theater groups in your area are charging for admission. You can't charge a lot more if patrons in your area are used to a particular amount, and you can't make money (or just break even) if you don't charge enough. If you don't have any idea about this, call around to area theaters and find out.

Then decide how big an audience you can reasonably expect to attract for each of the performances you want to present. Will it be 1 weekend of 2 performances? 2 weekends? With this basic information, you can get an idea of cost. For musicals you will have to pay a rental fee for materials, and a royalty fee for performances.

Then CALL - don't email - CALL - MTI (if they're the agency for the show you have in mind.) You will have to pay for the call, even if it is long distance, but it will be a lot less aggravating than dealing with a faceless monolith.

MTI has people who handle amateur leasing by geographic region. So call (212) 541-4684 and ask for the person who handles amateur leasing for your state. If the person is busy or not there, leave a message and they WILL call you back - and they pay for the call.

You can call yourself anything if they ask for the group's name. Call yourself the Collegiate Players or whatever you think of. Tell them where you propose to put on the show - even if you change your mind later on, you can tell them that you had to change the venue. You can even tell them you changed the name of the group. It won't affect the quote. As long as you haven't signed the contract, they won't care.

Tell them how many performances, the price you THINK you will charge, and the capacity (the greatest number of seats you can sell for any 1 performance.) They will then be able to quote the amount.

If it seems too high, you can always find a smaller house - but you will, at least, have a point of reference. You can even ask them what the cutoff point is for a change (either up or down) in royalties. Rentals are usually a fixed amount - but if you don't use orchestrations (just piano) you can save a few bucks. Many groups just do a piano, bass and drum combo. The bass player can read the bass line off the piano score, and any good drummer can give you a rhythm line by listening to the music. Your music director can assist here.

Tams-Witmark (212-688-2525), Rodgers & Hammerstein Music Library (sorry I don't have their number - call 212 info), and Samuel French (212-206-8125) are the other major musical lessors. And they all have amateur leasing experts who WILL help you!

If you're not dead set on a musical, Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service have giant catalogues of straight plays, which charge the same royalties no matter where you perform, or how big your house is. The prices are listed in the catalogues. And there's no rental fee for materials, because you purchase the script books from them (usually $6 - $12 per book.)

Good luck.