I have been trying to put together an a guide that theaters could use for copyright issues. It's incredibly difficult because of all the variables. Of course, it's no replacement for getting together with an attorney to put together policies for your company.

If I do manage to put together something I am happy with, I will try to check back in this thread. There are some guides out there already that address theater and fair use. They may be of some use. As I have never been over thrilled by any of them, I don't have one to specifically recommend.

Originally posted by Rorgg Not exactly responsive, but perhaps illuminating.  I did run into this over at Dramatist's: May I copy a play and distribute it to my class for study purposes? Under the provision of "fair use" copyright law does allow for some limited photocopying strictly for use in educational settings. You cannot photocopy an entire play and hand it out to your students, but copying a short section of a play for teaching use only is permissible. We recommend that you read up on copyright law for further clarification on the parameters of this before proceeding. And here's from the copyright office on Fair Use: Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair: The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes The nature of the copyrighted work The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

Just to avoid a common misunderstanding, "educational" and "teaching" are not referencing schools and teachers in general, they refer to the act of face-to-face teaching and being directly related to an established curriculum.  Many groups use school facilities and sometimes believe that this means that  any events there are considered "educational" when the reality is that even many school events are not educational as used in copyright law.  The same kind of issues apply to churches where something related directly to "worship" or "religious services" is different than simply being related to a church facility or religious organization.  In both cases it is the related act, not the title or location, being referenced.