BRADY FLANIGANStaff Writer

In 1928, Walt Disney Animation Studios released “Steamboat Willie”, an eight-minute cartoon that introduced the world to the company’s frontman, Mickey Mouse. Jan. 1 of last year—aye, last year—95 years later, the character entered the public domain. Penicillin was discovered in 1928. What this goes to show is that a work of art can spend nearly a century digging trenches in the public consciousness and still not be free for the public to use. As long as someone holds the copyright, someone is getting paid.

With the South Jackson Performing Arts Center (SJPAC) rolling out its 2025-2026 theater and performing arts lineup, now’s a good time to talk about licensing fees, artist down payments, and the general money-swamps that small theaters wade through just to keep the stage lights on. SJPAC Executive Director Greg Gressel sat down to talk about the upcoming season and, more importantly, what actually goes on inside the cash register to make it happen.

From July of this year through July of 2026, SJPAC will stage eleven full-scale productions and host four musical acts. Before a single performer steps into the spotlight, before the first note of “Seussical”—a musical comedy inspired by the works of Dr. Seuss—is played, the theater will have already shelled out $61,989.53 in licensing fees and laid out several thousand dollars in down payments to musicians, according to Gressel.

“I think there’s a misconception out there where people think, ‘okay, our local theater is going to do Beauty and the Beast. So they just go out there, find the story, put the music and stuff to it, and they might have to pay some music rights or something,’ but they don’t think about the fact that just to do that production, we have to sign a licensing agreement,” he said.

Even more ironic is that several of SJPAC’s 2025-2026 productions are based on source material already in the public domain. Take “Anne of Green Gables”, set to run Sept. 11-14. The novel, written by L.M. Montgomery in 1908, is long out of copyright. But the book isn’t the play, and while you can print a public-domain novel word-for-word, you can’t just hurl actors onstage to read it aloud. Doldrums. Someone has to adapt it. Once they do, they own the rights to how it’s used. 

When a theater purchases the licenses for a play, the company sends them physical copies of the play. These are on loan. Once the performance is over, they’ve got to be sent back. Practice the play. Borrow the book. Perform the play. Return the book to the sender. No copying. However, as Gressel noted, not only would that be rife for a lawsuit, once other licensing firms got word a theater group did that, they’d be a pariah. Nobody would work with that theater again. Those are just the rules of this complicated board game on a stage. 

That’s how SJPAC ended up licensing a 2009 adaptation of “Anne of Green Gables” by theater actor Peter DeLaurier. Using his script means cutting a check to him and his licensing firm, Playscripts Inc. Even Disney, a company with a market cap floating around $200 billion, doesn’t handle theatrical licensing in-house. Disney outsources to a company called Music Theatre International (MTI). And every time another middleman joins the hustle, the cost goes up. Gressel estimates that since COVID-19, average fees have doubled. “Steady revenue is a necessary business component if you have that much overhead,” he said. “It’s a tremendous overhead, and what that doesn’t include is the music, the sets, the props, the costumes. None of that. The advertising, getting people in there and in the seats.”

To absorb these upfront costs, SJPAC runs a tiered season ticket model—silver, gold, platinum. Each package locks in seats for eight, ten, or thirteen shows, with different prices for side, balcony, or center seating. More than a convenience, it’s a financial back-up chute. If a show doesn’t sell or something breaks, ticket packages keep the revenue from flatlining. 

Still, despite the costs, the contracts, and the fine print, the show goes on. “It’s just a tough business,” Gressel said. “It takes a lot to do this for our community, and we’re committed to doing some of the best that they can get. And yet, it takes a lot.” But that’s theater. Cash up front, contract in hand—keep those stage lights on. And as long as there’s an audience, there’ll be a stage.