Online Help & Guidance

A copyrighted play usually is offered as a licensed property. If you wish to produce a play protected by copyright, you apply for a license--in essence, paying the publisher/agent (and thus the playwright) for performances of the play. These payments are referred to as "royalties," and producing a copyrighted work requires permission and/or payment of royalties. This includes not only plays and musicals, but background music used in a production or performed on stage as part of a play. This is true whether you charge admission or not, and whether you are a for-profit or not-for-profit theatre or a school.

Useful Articles on the AACT Website

• AACT's Glossary of Rights & Royalty Terms (PDF)
• An article from the AACT Resource Library: "Script Changes? Copyright law requires permission. Here’s how to make it work." 
• Since most copyrighted words cannot be recorded or videotaped without permission from the rights holder, take a look at this Resource Library article:  "Videotaping: An Inconvenient Truth."
• AACT's Resource Library offers members a large collection of how-to articles and forms on production, management, governance, advocacy, and more. [You must be signed in to view this page]

Articles on the Web

• Dramatists Guild: Copyright 101
• Don't Change The Words: You may have licensed the play or musical, but it's not yours to change {Dramatists Guild]
• Copyright Crash Course [University of Texas at Austin website]
• The Use of Copyrighted Materials in Live Theatre Productions [MS Word document] [Richmond Sound Design website]
• Music Theatre International: Dos and Don’ts of Licensing
• Concord Theatricals: Intro to Licensing

Online Reference Sites

• U.S. Copyright Office
• Copyright Office FAQ
• Search U.S. Copyright Records
• Duration of Copyright PDF[U.S. Copyright Office]
• Music Licensing Terminology [ASCAP]
• Music Licenses & Copyrights [IAMUSIC.com]

Licensing & Royalty Information from Publishers

• Dramatic Publishing, Inc.
• Music Theatre International
• Pioneer Drama, Inc.
• Concord Theatricals

NOTE: The above is a representative sampling only, since not all publishers post details on their websites.