A bit off topic, but this one was too good to resist. Fans of the movie Rushmore likely remember one of the movie’s best gags, high school student Max Fischer’s stage play recreation of the movie Serpico. Funny, but a North Bergen, New Jersey high school has done one better and translated that notion into the real world with their stage production of the movie Alien. Done as a labor of love, the play was a collaboration between three teachers and 16 students (the school doesn’t even have a drama department), and the sets and costumes were largely made from donated and recycled material. The video below shows the trailer that was made to advertise the play, and two scenes captured by audience members. Alien: The Play drew national attention, well deserved for this wonderful and inspiring work.
Discussion
6 Thoughts on "Alien, the Stage Play"
Interestingly, and perhaps somewhat relevantly, there’s discussion of this in the context of copyright at https://www.onstageblog.com/school-edition/2019/3/24/we-need-to-talk-about-that-hs-production-of-alien
Great point! This is clearly a violation of copyright, as the blog you link to points out, it’s a clear cut case. That said, assuming this doesn’t go any further, I can’t see much point in the rights holders pursuing a case. Where I might step in would be if the teachers here actually did follow through with their plans to release a video of the play (https://qz.com/quartzy/1579355/a-us-high-schools-crafty-production-of-alien-is-going-viral/).
I think they did “Night of the Living Dead” previously. I’m very impressed that they did all the set and costumes for about $3000.
In North Bergen, everyone can hear you scream–with delight. Way to go, students and teachers!
Because of an oversight by its distributor, “Night of the Living Dead” is actually in the public domain, so adapting that film to the stage was perfectly legal.
