From Issue #5, Spring 2004
READERS
THEATRE IS NOT EXEMPT FROM COPYRIGHT LAWS!
Mel White sent
me this manuscript back in 1992 in the course of some correspondence
on a RT project we were discussing at the time. The following note was
attached. "Dear Robert, this seems very simplistic & obvious
to me, and I'm sure it's all 'old stuff' to you, but I did dig it out
so throw it away for me." Mel is no longer with us, but I take
his note (in the context of whatever we were up to at the time) to be
tacit permission to print it here. Bob Demers
Performance Permission
Procedures - by Mel White
To perform a work
means to recite, render, play, dance, or act it, either directly or
by means of any device or process. This certainly includes group reading.
Our advice (is) to plan far in advance when using copyrighted material
and write for permission.
The first step in
tracking down information on copyright ownership of a work and on its
availability for performance is to check the copyright pages of the
book in which you are interested. You'll find information on the date
of copyright, the copyright holder, the publisher, and sometimes an
address of the publisher and/or author's agent. In addition, such statement
as this may be included:
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without their permission
of (name of publisher)
If no address is
given, of course you can get it in the reference room of the library.
Play publishers
provide much more detail. For example, for Equus, by Peter Shaffer,
we learn that the play was copyrighted in 1973 by the playwright himself.
After warning both "professionals and amateurs" that Equus
is subject to a royalty, information on where the play is protected
is given, what rights are protected, addresses of the publisher, where
you may apply for royalty information, and the statement: "Royalty
of the required amount must be paid whether the play is presented for
charity or gain and whether or not permission is charged." Later
this is added: "Particular emphasis is laid on the question of
amateur and professional readings, permission and terms for which must
be secured in writing from (name of the play broker/publisher.) In short
it is obvious that no one is to perform this play or give reading of
it, public or otherwise, without permission. Yet, drama and interpretation
professors hear their students do readings and perform scenes from Equus
in the classroom without asking for or getting permission; unchallenged
custom calls this "fair use," both under the old and the New
Copyright Law.
As was indicated
above, seldom does one find such details on the copyright page of novels,
collections of poetry, anthologies, and other literary works. For them,
address the Permissions Editor of the publisher. For magazine material,
write the editorial offices; for newspapers, the editor.
When you initiate
correspondence about any literary material - poem, short story, novel,
cartoon, comic strip, column, essay, etc., be as specific and detailed
as possible. Include such information as:
1. Who you are and what your position is,
2. What your connection with the proposed use of the material is: director,
compiler, reader, etc.
3. Who will perform the material - a class, members of a student club,
a Sunday school class, a senior citizen group, etc.
4. Exactly what you wish to use: title, author, copyright data, the
pages involved, sometimes the number of words, even the first and last
lines if it is an excerpt.
5. When and where it would be performed including the seating capacity,
size of audience expected, and the like.
6. The number of performances.
7. Will admission be charged? Will anyone receive any remuneration in
any way, direct or indirect, as a result of the performance?
Include in your
initial letter anything and everything that might be pertinent to your
request. This saves time and correspondence, helps the permissions editor,
the author, or the copyright owner arrive at a decision. A letter that
only reveals, "I want to quote the lyrics of Night and Day in a
program I'm preparing," deserves a refusal. You might write:
"We have adapted
your short story, 'The Sunrise' and performed it in our Readers Theatre
class, but would like to give one free performance at each of two Senior
Citizen groups." Then give complete details.
It is advisable
someplace in your letter, usually at or near the end, to say, "If
you do not handle permission rights to this piece, could you provide
us information as to who does?" Some publishers will forward your
initial request to the proper agent, if they have the information, and
most will respond to your request in some way. But be warned, sometimes
you wait and wait interminably - and now and then never hear. If the
publisher, author, or agent fails to answer your first letter, zerox
your copy of the original request and send it off with a notation at
the bottom, "Second Request. May I have the favor of a reply at
your earliest convenience?"
One final suggestion:
Novelists, short story writers, essayists, cartoonists, and poets and
their agents and publishers do not always understand when you write
of group readings, Readers Theatre, and the like. So it is well, sometimes
to include a few sentences in explanation. "We have arranged your
New Yorker story, At the Dinner Table, to be read by several speech
students in what is called a Readers Theatre presentation. This is like
a play, but it is not memorized, there are no theatrical embellishments
such as settings, properties and costumes, or special lighting. Our
classroom production of your story proved effective, and we've been
asked to perform it at a meeting of Speech and Drama students during
registration for the second semester. Of course no admission will be
charged, as it is for demonstration and entertainment purposes only.
May we have your permission to perform this dramatization on (date)
for departmental majors at this meeting?"
The new Copyright
Law has not put an end to the many questions that arose under the old
law, and this is especially true of such problem areas as "What
constitutes fair use?" Stanley
Rothenberg, Chairman, Committee on Copyright and Literary Property of
the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, wrote: "In
sum, most of the old, unresolved legal problems of the antiquated 1909
copyright law are still with us notwithstanding a shiny new complicated
code brimming with complexities." He concluded by observing that
when you scrutinize the news Copyright Act, ". . .envision the
notice thereon, 'Danger - Handle With Care. '" *
* Stanley Rothenberg, "New Copyright Law - New Questions."
Variety, January 9, 1980, p. 25.
Following
is a link to a unique tabular representation of the copyright law.
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm
(HOME)