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copyrites's comments:
on Not At School
The continued popularity of Neil Simon's Rumors as a high school play, especially in areas known to be dominated by the kind of thinking expressed by the La Grande objectors, is very curious, and appears that it can only be explained by the widespread [mis]understanding that Hazelwood censorship powers outweigh the author's right to choose whether to submit his (or her) work to those powers.
The author's stated intent is that the script be performed as he wrote it, with every one of the dozen or so F-words, which he calculatedly puts in the mouths of some at times not very nice people, being clearly heard by the audience -- how is it possible to perform this play in a way that satisfies that intent of the author, while still accommodating the sensitivities of community members with "standards" as "high" as those of the objectors in La Grande? Not by cutting or changing text -- maybe "obscuring" it, so that the text is performed, but not heard by the audience? This is perhaps a "bending" rather than a breaking of the copyright law, but which looks to me like a clear violation of what the Berne Convention calls the author's "moral rights" (which have not been adopted into US copyright, but which were so important to citizens and governments of other countries that France banned the TV showing of Turner colorized classic black and movies in response to the objections of their directors: Turner may have purchased the right to so adapt the films along with all other rights from the studios that previously owned the copyrights, but it was found that the adaptations violated the moral rights of the auteurs of the films, the directors, making the adaptations legal under US copyright law, but illegal under French copyright law.)
It seems to me that if authors are worthy of enough respect that you want to produce one of their plays, they are also worthy of enough respect to not change their plays in ways that they find objectionable -- which is why I can think that the LHS Picasso, which was edited, I assume, in ways that were both supported by Mr. Martin and also, in the professional judgment of Mr. Cahill students and his principal, adequate to adapt the play to the needs of Mr. Cahill's students and the intended audience, should have gone forward at the school, while also thinking that the Philomath Rumors should never have gotten as far as it did.
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Not At School
Because of the economics of commercial theater during the last few decades, most of the plays with big casts are period pieces, so even if every character is not an actor with a salary that must be paid, as in commerce, every character is another body that needs a costume that works for the period -- and does the play work in modern dress? Who has access to a set of appropriate costumes and owes someone involved a favor? Are there enough male actors to fill all the male roles in this play? (It's usually safe to assume that there will always be more than enough female actors to double or triple cast all the female roles in the play.) Does it work to change some or all the male characters to female, or males played by females? Is it legal to do that? The answer to that is "yes" for sure only if the play is in the public domain -- back to a period piece. Are there actors who show enough promise that they are ready, deserving and needing to be stretched by roles that most high schools don't touch becuse they know they can't cast? Isn't it as bad to ignore the needs of the six best students as it is to ignore the needs of all the others?
Isn't it amazing that the best teachers can keep all these balls in the air, and more, while parents and administrators are sniping at them?
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Not At School
From the Royalties & Rights Information page on the Website of Samuel French, licensing agency for Picasso at the Lapine Argile:
"The play will be presented as it appears in published form and the author's intent will be respected in production. No changes, interpolations,or deletions in the text, lyrics, music, title or gender of the characters shall be made for the purpose of production. . . .
"**Please note: each title is considered separately and whenever you wish to make changes to a script you must always request permission in writing. Not all authors/authors’ representatives allow changes to be made."
(Neil Simon, for example, is notorious for allowing no changes.)
It seems that many parents, and many school administrators, and sorry to say, many drama directors are not aware that these are among the terms of the standard licensing agreement, backed by US copyright law, and they apply to all works not in the public domain -- for most practical purposes "not in the public domain" means first published since 1923.
Probably all school administrators, and most teachers, and many parents are aware that the Supreme Court, in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988), affirmed the broad censorship powers of educational administrators over school papers and school plays. Many seem to act as if they think Hazelwood trumps the author's right to choose to not be censored, but probably the better interpretation is that censorship and copyright issues are in play at the same time, that neither trumps the other, and that failure to find a compromise that answers community objections and still satisfies the author means that that play cannot be done in that community -- until the community ceases to object, or the play falls into the public domain.
Recommended reading:
"Censorship and School Theatre" by Don Corathers, Teaching Theatre Winter 2007, archived at http://www.edta.org/pdf_archive/censorship_selection162007113222.pdf.
"Who owns the rights? Copyright, the law and licensing the show" by Kevin N. Scott, Teaching Theatre Summer 1999, available online at http://www.geocities.com/k_n_scott/Copyright4Producers
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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