Open Forum

Original Message------

I was wondering if anyone has had luck receiving permission to change the setting for a Dramatist show. I'm doing The Crucible this Fall and would love to put it in a contemporary setting but the license says that you can't change the setting. I'm going to write them, because it can't hurt to ask, but I just wanted to see how good my chances are. Thanks!

One way to honor the licensing agreement as well as highlight its contemporary message is to have a suggested set rather than a realistic one. For example, use projections, have free standing window and door frames, etc.

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Lori Constable
Teacher; director of Drama
Independent District 112
Chanhassen MN
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-31-2017 10:05
From: Mark A. Zimmerman
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

My sense is that this is a non-starter.

Original Message------

I was wondering if anyone has had luck receiving permission to change the setting for a Dramatist show. I'm doing The Crucible this Fall and would love to put it in a contemporary setting but the license says that you can't change the setting. I'm going to write them, because it can't hurt to ask, but I just wanted to see how good my chances are. Thanks!

I did my thesis on directors' rights in reinterpreting dramatic material, and sadly Beckett and Miller were the two authors who routinely sued theatres where anything was changed. Since Miller's passing that may have changed, but I doubt it. On the other hand, Trinity Rep in Providence did a fabulous version with few actors playing multiple roles, including men playing some of the girls. I loved it and it definitely took the play out of the staid, talk-y place it is in, and allowed for creativity in staging. They did use a more modern skyline as a backdrop and a mostly empty stage with minimal Puritan costuming. Check it out. I'm sure they have educational materials through their Project Discovery program.

Sent from my iPad


Original Message------

I was wondering if anyone has had luck receiving permission to change the setting for a Dramatist show. I'm doing The Crucible this Fall and would love to put it in a contemporary setting but the license says that you can't change the setting. I'm going to write them, because it can't hurt to ask, but I just wanted to see how good my chances are. Thanks!

Never hurts to try....the recent revival was a contemporary setting in a school-type setting.

http://www.playbill.com/article/critics-review-broadway-revival-of-the-crucible-com-384633

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Lynda Gibson
Jr. Troupe 88305
Flushing MI
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-31-2017 11:39
From: Elisabeth Ledwell
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

I did my thesis on directors' rights in reinterpreting dramatic material, and sadly Beckett and Miller were the two authors who routinely sued theatres where anything was changed. Since Miller's passing that may have changed, but I doubt it. On the other hand, Trinity Rep in Providence did a fabulous version with few actors playing multiple roles, including men playing some of the girls. I loved it and it definitely took the play out of the staid, talk-y place it is in, and allowed for creativity in staging. They did use a more modern skyline as a backdrop and a mostly empty stage with minimal Puritan costuming. Check it out. I'm sure they have educational materials through their Project Discovery program.

Sent from my iPad


Original Message------

I was wondering if anyone has had luck receiving permission to change the setting for a Dramatist show. I'm doing The Crucible this Fall and would love to put it in a contemporary setting but the license says that you can't change the setting. I'm going to write them, because it can't hurt to ask, but I just wanted to see how good my chances are. Thanks!

Molly,
I have no answers but think it is ironic that the Crucible was a clear comment about the Washington DC Witch hunts when it was written. So if you can't change "the setting", maybe there is another way as suggested, with contemporary ways to create the puritanical setting ( is there a requirement for wardrobe?, or graphics? maybe make the visuals in the marketing very contemporary-like a contemporary newspaper, having a very contemporary student do a news interview with a period character for your FB/youtube promos etc. Having interactive texting with audience on a projection) Hope you get to manifest your creative vision.

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Lisa Dalton
Fort Worth, TX
National Michael Chekhov Association, Pres, Certifying Master Teacher
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-30-2017 17:05
From: Molly Chapman
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

I was wondering if anyone has had luck receiving permission to change the setting for a Dramatist show. I'm doing The Crucible this Fall and would love to put it in a contemporary setting but the license says that you can't change the setting. I'm going to write them, because it can't hurt to ask, but I just wanted to see how good my chances are. Thanks!

Yes, it is possible to get permission to change the year the show is set in.  We got permission to update the dates and currency values for "Museum" this past spring.  I sent a pdf of a letter I had written to Tina Howe, the playwright, explaining the rationale to Dramatists in an email, asking them to forward it to her.  I had to email a reminder, then call directly, to get them to send the pdf letter on to her, but then she responded immediately that she was "absolutely thrilled" that we wanted to do that.

BUT, there is no way I would ask to do that for "The Crucible."  Arthur Miller used the Salem witch trials to make the point that that situation was analogous to the naming demanded by the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities.  In an educational setting, there is so much there for the history teachers to cover in classes.  Our English teachers and U.S. History teachers have been super supportive the two times we have produced "The Crucible."

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C. J. Breland
Asheville High School
Asheville NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-01-2017 19:12
From: Lisa Dalton
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

Molly,
I have no answers but think it is ironic that the Crucible was a clear comment about the Washington DC Witch hunts when it was written. So if you can't change "the setting", maybe there is another way as suggested, with contemporary ways to create the puritanical setting ( is there a requirement for wardrobe?, or graphics? maybe make the visuals in the marketing very contemporary-like a contemporary newspaper, having a very contemporary student do a news interview with a period character for your FB/youtube promos etc. Having interactive texting with audience on a projection) Hope you get to manifest your creative vision.

------------------------------
Lisa Dalton
Fort Worth, TX
National Michael Chekhov Association, Pres, Certifying Master Teacher

Original Message:
Sent: 07-30-2017 17:05
From: Molly Chapman
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

I was wondering if anyone has had luck receiving permission to change the setting for a Dramatist show. I'm doing The Crucible this Fall and would love to put it in a contemporary setting but the license says that you can't change the setting. I'm going to write them, because it can't hurt to ask, but I just wanted to see how good my chances are. Thanks!

I echo C. J.'s sentiments. When Crucible was written, it wasn't a contemporary piece. It was written as a period piece to comment on contemporary issues. Not only would it be a disservice the play itself to change the setting, I believe you'd be doing a disservice to your cast and audience. Watching Theatre should not be a passive process. It's audiences job to make those contemporary connections. By you doing the work for them, you're robbing them of a major part of their experience.

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Hugh Fletcher
Performing Arts Coordinator
IS 229 Dr. Roland Patterson Middle School
Roosevelt NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-02-2017 01:45
From: C. J. Breland
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

Yes, it is possible to get permission to change the year the show is set in.  We got permission to update the dates and currency values for "Museum" this past spring.  I sent a pdf of a letter I had written to Tina Howe, the playwright, explaining the rationale to Dramatists in an email, asking them to forward it to her.  I had to email a reminder, then call directly, to get them to send the pdf letter on to her, but then she responded immediately that she was "absolutely thrilled" that we wanted to do that.

BUT, there is no way I would ask to do that for "The Crucible."  Arthur Miller used the Salem witch trials to make the point that that situation was analogous to the naming demanded by the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities.  In an educational setting, there is so much there for the history teachers to cover in classes.  Our English teachers and U.S. History teachers have been super supportive the two times we have produced "The Crucible."

------------------------------
C. J. Breland
Asheville High School
Asheville NC

Original Message:
Sent: 08-01-2017 19:12
From: Lisa Dalton
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

Molly,
I have no answers but think it is ironic that the Crucible was a clear comment about the Washington DC Witch hunts when it was written. So if you can't change "the setting", maybe there is another way as suggested, with contemporary ways to create the puritanical setting ( is there a requirement for wardrobe?, or graphics? maybe make the visuals in the marketing very contemporary-like a contemporary newspaper, having a very contemporary student do a news interview with a period character for your FB/youtube promos etc. Having interactive texting with audience on a projection) Hope you get to manifest your creative vision.

------------------------------
Lisa Dalton
Fort Worth, TX
National Michael Chekhov Association, Pres, Certifying Master Teacher

Original Message:
Sent: 07-30-2017 17:05
From: Molly Chapman
Subject: Updating a setting for a Dramatist Show

I was wondering if anyone has had luck receiving permission to change the setting for a Dramatist show. I'm doing The Crucible this Fall and would love to put it in a contemporary setting but the license says that you can't change the setting. I'm going to write them, because it can't hurt to ask, but I just wanted to see how good my chances are. Thanks!