CMU School of Drama


Thursday, May 03, 2018

High School Production of "The Lion King" Cancelled Mid-Run Due to Copyright Issue

OnStage Blog: Once again, when it comes to licensing permissions, it appears as though educators have failed their students as a high school production has been canceled due to copyrights not being secured.

Over the weekend, students at Nansemond River High School in Suffolk, VA were told that their production of Disney's The Lion King would not continue because rights to the show had not been obtained. The worst part is, they had already begun performances.

6 comments:

Kimberly McSweeney said...

I cannot believe the administration approved this whole process and let the kids and adults produce this performance without actually having the rights secured properly and also probably knew that High School rights could not be obtained for The Lion King anyway. It is honestly just super irresponsible to let people do this under your supervision. I am sure it will be an embarrassment for Dr. Neighbors, the educator in charge of the program and I cannot imagine a scenario in which she keeps her job or credibility after this incident. My high school had plenty of issues securing rights for certain performances over the years but when trouble would strike we would either work hard to fix it or move onto our second round pick. All of these applications and licensing things have to be done so far in advance and that’s the other reason I’m so surprised Dr. Neighbors got away with it for so long.

Drew H said...

I am surprised this doesn’t happen more often to be honest. I feel as though it is very easy to acquire scripts without also having to acquire the licensing and then people just go off and put on the show. Maybe people are better than I thought and they don’t do this severe copyright violation. I also think that the article is a little strict. Sure what the school did was wrong, but who knows what the circumstances were. Maybe they didn’t know they didn’t have the rights or maybe they thought that there was miscommunication. Since none of that was addressed in the article, I think it is unfair to say that the theater teacher should loose her job. Now, I do think it is important to not only teach theater and direct shows, but to teach about everything that goes with it. I remember being kept in the loop about licensing and how that worked at a high school level when I was there and that was valuable. I think that should happen everywhere.

Ali Whyte said...

I was pleasantly surprised that this article is as articulate and relevant as it is. I know many high schools that are guilty of this, especially with student organized shows open for one night or similar situations where tickets or profit are not involved, but rarely have I seen it with a show this large. Especially with The Lion King, which is still running on Broadway, the theatre teacher trying to perform it without rights had to know it wouldn't go well. Again, I know of this happening with smaller shows, older shows, and shows that are not running on any major stages, but never of something of this caliber. I didn't realize that MTI would actually conduct investigations, but I am actually glad that they do. I know some people might argue that Lion King doesn't need anymore money, but it is the same policies that protect smaller shows as well, so I am happy to defend the larger ones if it means that the smaller shows get protection too.

Evan Schild said...

Its really sad when you see a group of students get punished for something they had no control over. One thing I think needs to change is the fee required to put on these shows. For schools a lot of the time they do not have the money to get expense show rights, while I do not think it’s a good idea to not pay I understand why some schools are inclined in doing so. I think MTI needs to lower the costs so more schools can do shows. However, this shows rights aren’t even available to schools so I don’t understand why this was even a thought. As an educator they should know that copyright is a very serious matter. Also as a role model to student this should not have happened. In the future I hope that MTI and schools work better together to produce even more shows so more students can get involved in the arts.

Marisa Rinchiuso said...

This is one of those situations that makes you so pleased and frustrated at the same time. When I see people who don’t get copyrights knowingly, it feels like the artists get cheated so when they get called out there’s a sense of righteousness. However, the fact that the students had absolutely nothing to do with it and they had to stop performances is really sad. I understand that many schools do not have the money to afford the rights to shows, but even then, Lion King is so high profile that it’s hard to keep that from being seen by someone. There are so many shows that are specifically targeted toward schools that want to get rights that are not too expensive, but of course they are never as flashy and well known as Lion King. I hope the drama department has a conversation with the students so they understand what’s all going on and are able to learn a little bit about how copyright affects the work that we do in every stage of the theatre.

Unknown said...

These poor students! Like the author stated, it is not their responsibility to make sure their supervisors and teachers are doing their job! It is so unfortunate these students had already put all the work into the production, actors and tech alike, for it to be cancelled mid shows. And for the original artists of the Broadway “Lion King”, it is always a slap to the face to have your art stolen/used without permission. And the rights are not even out for schools to buy! There is not even a way to purchase the full, original “Lion King”, like the article stated, besides a junior version. I simply don’t understand why the adults in charge of the production, thought it would be acceptable in any way, or that they would be able to get away with illegally producing the show. Like another comment above said- the Lion King is a pretty high profile musical, it was pretty inevitable their production would get exposed.