Open Forum

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Jared Wright
Thomaston GA
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This might be a tough one. There are tons of classic holiday stories and poems in the public domain (The Gift of the Magi, A Christmas Carol, The Snow Queen, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Little Matchgirl if you want to ruin everyone's holiday season . . .), and you can find some free adaptations out there of varying quality (some of which I've linked to). However, you might want to consider recruiting one of the more talented creative writing students at your school to adapt the material for your department. That way, you won't have to worry about any accidental copyright infringement. Alternatively, you can easily adapt the material yourself, especially if you're only performing five-minute scenes.

If you consider going the radio play route (a popular holiday choice for theatre companies), you barely even have to adapt the material. It's basically just reading the story out loud with strong acting and interesting sound effects.

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Victoria Chatfield
Executive Director
National Theatre for Student Artists
www.nationalstudenttheatre.org
vchatfield@nationalstudenttheatre.org
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2017 08:35
From: Jared Wright
Subject: Holiday/Christmas Suggestions

Each year, the Fine Arts department at my school has a combined Holiday/Christmas concert. The trouble is, I am having a hard time coming up with short scenes to do between songs, so I was wondering if anyone out there might know of anything that might work. They can't be more than five minutes or so, and I'd prefer to stick with public domain, rather than having to try and gain rights to a lot of different scenes, should we go that route. I'm open to suggestions.

THANK YOU!!!

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Jared Wright
Thomaston GA
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​My Thespians do a reader's theatre of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas every year as a donations play at our elementary schools.  It is public domain, as we are basically just reading the story out loud (as the above poster mentioned) with strong acting and a really great Max!  Our audiences love it and it's only about 15 minutes long.  You could break it up and do five minutes at a time.

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Amber Hugus
Harmony PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2017 08:35
From: Jared Wright
Subject: Holiday/Christmas Suggestions

Each year, the Fine Arts department at my school has a combined Holiday/Christmas concert. The trouble is, I am having a hard time coming up with short scenes to do between songs, so I was wondering if anyone out there might know of anything that might work. They can't be more than five minutes or so, and I'd prefer to stick with public domain, rather than having to try and gain rights to a lot of different scenes, should we go that route. I'm open to suggestions.

THANK YOU!!!

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Jared Wright
Thomaston GA
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For more information about determining public domain status, check out The Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School's website. It's a great resource for public domain topics, and discusses why some intellectual property isn't in the public domain even though we might expect it to be. 

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Rosemary Bucher
Licensing Representative, Educational Theatre
Samuel French
New York NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-01-2017 07:48
From: Amber Hugus
Subject: Holiday/Christmas Suggestions

​My Thespians do a reader's theatre of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas every year as a donations play at our elementary schools.  It is public domain, as we are basically just reading the story out loud (as the above poster mentioned) with strong acting and a really great Max!  Our audiences love it and it's only about 15 minutes long.  You could break it up and do five minutes at a time.

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Amber Hugus
Harmony PA

Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2017 08:35
From: Jared Wright
Subject: Holiday/Christmas Suggestions

Each year, the Fine Arts department at my school has a combined Holiday/Christmas concert. The trouble is, I am having a hard time coming up with short scenes to do between songs, so I was wondering if anyone out there might know of anything that might work. They can't be more than five minutes or so, and I'd prefer to stick with public domain, rather than having to try and gain rights to a lot of different scenes, should we go that route. I'm open to suggestions.

THANK YOU!!!

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Jared Wright
Thomaston GA
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Playscripts.com has a play that I have used called Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) by John K. Alvarez, Michael Carleton, and James FitzGerald.  It is fast-paced and zany, and I have used cuttings of it at speech contests.  You would have to check on performance rights if you are charging for the show, though.

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Janette Clark
Drama Teacher
Minneapolis KS
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2017 08:35
From: Jared Wright
Subject: Holiday/Christmas Suggestions

Each year, the Fine Arts department at my school has a combined Holiday/Christmas concert. The trouble is, I am having a hard time coming up with short scenes to do between songs, so I was wondering if anyone out there might know of anything that might work. They can't be more than five minutes or so, and I'd prefer to stick with public domain, rather than having to try and gain rights to a lot of different scenes, should we go that route. I'm open to suggestions.

THANK YOU!!!

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Jared Wright
Thomaston GA
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Original Message------

Each year, the Fine Arts department at my school has a combined Holiday/Christmas concert. The trouble is, I am having a hard time coming up with short scenes to do between songs, so I was wondering if anyone out there might know of anything that might work. They can't be more than five minutes or so, and I'd prefer to stick with public domain, rather than having to try and gain rights to a lot of different scenes, should we go that route. I'm open to suggestions. 

THANK YOU!!!

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Jared Wright
Thomaston GA
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I'd be happy to offer "A Christmas Cabaret Concert" holiday musical revue with 17 original seasonal songs.  I have attached the full script and you can listen to all songs at Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/user-215519716/sets/a-christmas-cabaret-concert-presented-by-asjustonelifecom  All music is digital and licensed for use. Demos are poorly sung by me.

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Steve Pinkerman
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2017 08:35
From: Jared Wright
Subject: Holiday/Christmas Suggestions

Each year, the Fine Arts department at my school has a combined Holiday/Christmas concert. The trouble is, I am having a hard time coming up with short scenes to do between songs, so I was wondering if anyone out there might know of anything that might work. They can't be more than five minutes or so, and I'd prefer to stick with public domain, rather than having to try and gain rights to a lot of different scenes, should we go that route. I'm open to suggestions. 

THANK YOU!!!

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Jared Wright
Thomaston GA
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