The actual "community theater" in our neck of the woods operates in an old church and the committee are all very conservative..which explains why we ( and another group too) started our own theaters.  We have tried to oust them through elections but failed so decided to just let them be..live and let live.  I guess there's room in every community for "family" theater and then all the rest of us.

I'm in agreement with most everyone on this topic.  This topic seems to surface every coupe of months or so and the answer is the same.  You do not own the work.   You only have a license (to which you've agreed) to perform the work as written.

If you feel that you must modify any dialog get the permission in writing from the licensing agency or the playwright or whatever entity is authorized to do that.   You might be surprised at how many might be willing to accomodate your request depenidng on the specifics of what you want to modify.   But many won't and therefore you have two choices: to do the show as written or not at all.   Seems pretty simple to me.

Originally posted by Topper If you have problems with the language in your play, there is nothing wrong with putting a warning message on your advertising or playbills.  "Warning:  Contains adult language and themes."

Excellent idea Topper!   We've done this for many shows that have had language or subject matter issues.   Not to mention gun shots, violence and nudity.

That sounded snarky and I didn't mean it to.  Sorry.

Slicksister & Topper I'm not sure either one of you has anything to appologize for.   Language and content seem to always be at odds with either our own personal & audience's sensibilities and mounting productions that feed our soul rather just our pocketbook.

As Slicksister said, "It is often very challenging to find plays that don't have suggestive language or subject matter but that are still real and well written and thought provoking."    I'd like to think that perhaps  it's because much of what's well written and thought provoking is a reflection of real life that's captured more eloquently and susinctly by the playwright.   And most good playwrights (at least I think) leave you asking more questions than drawing hard & fast conclusions.