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Considering Matthew Shepard

Performance Registration

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We are delighted you will be performing Considering Matthew Shepard!

All performances are required to be registered with Conspirare and ASCAP to fulfill needed printed program and performance licenses.

Note:  The Choral Suite is a separate work and does not need to be registered.

We recommend you allow 8 weeks prior to performance date to secure all permissions.

Before registering, please review our Performance Registration Guide. It provides step-by-step information about performance permissions, ASCAP reporting, required program credits, libretto permissions, streaming and recording, and first-edition requirements.

Failure to obtain the required permission and follow through may jeopardize other ensembles’ ability to perform this work. 
1

Register Your Performance

Before completing the registration form below, please review the Considering Matthew Shepard Performance Registration Guide for complete information about permissions, royalties, program requirements, streaming/recording, and first-edition performances.

Please allow at least 8 weeks before your performance date to complete all required permissions.

After you register, Curtis Brown Ltd. will contact you to arrange the required performance permission and royalty fee for movements using poetry by Lesléa Newman.

Report your performance to ASCAP through your normal process. Considering Matthew Shepard Work ID: 890644093.

2

Prepare Your Printed Program

Your printed program must include the complete required text credits, including the composer’s message and the complete movement-by-movement credit list. These credits are required for every performance, whether or not you include the full libretto.

After registration, Conspirare will email a link to the full libretto, composer’s message, and required credits to help you prepare your program.

If you plan to print the full libretto text (not just the required credits) in your program, additional reprint permission from Candlewick Press is required for the Lesléa Newman material. Please see the Performance Registration Guide for the affected texts and instructions.

Scores are available for purchase from your favorite music dealer and can be previewed here. The full score and set of parts are available either as a digital download or as a print product. The print product is catalogue no. 285746 and can be purchased from any retailer — Hal Leonard does not sell direct. The score can be purchased as a digital download from Sheet Music Direct or from any major retailer like JW Pepper. Both options are the updated score and parts.

If you will print the libretto, you must obtain the following permissions:

Secure reprint permission for poems from October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard  from Julia Ottaviani at permissions@candlewick.com.  Movements that include text from October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard include:

  • The Fence (before)
  • The Fence (that night)
  • A Protestor
  • The Fence (one week later)
  • Stars
  • The Fence (after)
  • The Wind
  • Pilgrimage

If you are using the W.S. Merwin version of “Thank You”, you must obtain reprint permission for the poem “Thanks”. This is handled by Penguin Random House.

NOTE: “Thanks” is from THE RAIN IN THE TREES by W. S. Merwin. Copyright © 1988. Published by  Knopf; 1 edition (March 12, 1988)

Elliott Forrest directed the PBS version of the work, as well as serving as co-director of the Conspirare tour. In addition, he designed the projections for both.

He is able to make the visuals available to you as a Mac-based Keynote File, along with a cue script and tech specs on how to use them. The images include pictures of Matthew, Aaron, Russell, Wyoming landscapes, loops, video, and titles of each of the movements.

The visual package is available for a licensing fee of $300. Please contact Elliott Forrest to purchase the visuals.

If you have any questions, or just want to talk about the projections and staging, feel free to contact Elliott Forrest directly.

Email Elliott

Phone: (914) 260-1031

Interviews

Articles/Reviews

Michael Dennis Browne worked with Craig Hella Johnson as the librettist of Considering Matthew Shepard. He is available and would be happy to talk with you and your singers about any aspects of Considering Matthew Shepard, including his collaborative work on the libretto and the challenges of addressing this anguished story. If you are planning a performance in the upper mid– west area, Michael Dennis Browne welcomes you to be in touch with details about your performance.

Email Michael

Cathy Renna is a longtime LGBTQ activist who has been connected with the Shepard case since 1998, when she was dispatched to Laramie on October 7, 1997, while working at GLADD to assist in dealing with the media coverage of Matt’s murder. She subsequently attended the trials and has worked with Matt’s friends and family, and now the Foundation, since. She is an integral part of the work around the Laramie Project, working with countless productions and now with Conspirare and their extraordinary work, Considering Matthew Shepard, as a resource and expert working with productions and in facilitating talkbacks and media and community outreach as appropriate.

You can see more here in her TedX Talk about Matt about her experience and deep connections to the work and this case in particular.

Email Cathy

Phone: (917) 757-6123

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