Texas Church To Pay Unspecified Damages For Altered ‘Hamilton’

The Texas church that staged two performances of a highly altered and “Christianized” version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton has apologized for the unauthorized productions and will pay unspecified damages.

In a statement posted today on its Instagram page, the Door Christian Fellowship Ministries in McAllen, Texas – commonly known as the Door McAllen Church and headed by Pastor Roman Gutierrez – acknowledges that it “did not ask for, or receive, a license from the producers or creators of Hamilton to produce, stage, replicate or alter any part of Hamilton; nor did we seek prior permission to alter Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work by changing the music, the lyrics, deleting songs, and adding dialogue.”

Read the full statement below.

“I recognize as the Pastor of the church that I have an obligation and responsibility to follow the law and educate our community about these protocols,” the statement, also posted on the church’s website, continued. “Our ministry will use this moment as a learning opportunity about protected artistic works and intellectual property.”

In the statement, the church agrees to never stage the performances again, to destroy and and all video, sound recordings and images of the performances and rehearsals, and to “pay damages for our actions.”

The altered productions made national headlines earlier this month when footage of the performances, staged by RGV Productions, which operates the church, went viral on social media. The show, performed on Aug. 5 and 6, altered lyrics to make specific reference to Christianity, including the line “Stop running from God, Alexander…His word says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and [wants] just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us.”

In a sermon that followed the staging, an associate pastor of the church likened homosexuality to drug abuse.

The unauthorized stagings were widely condemned by, among others, the official musical’s producers, the Dramatists Guild and Miranda himself, who tweeted on Aug. 10, “Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production. Now lawyers do their work.”

Here is the full statement released by the church today:

On behalf of The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church, I would like to personally apologize to the creator of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the producers of Hamilton, and the numerous others who contributed their intellectual property to Hamilton, for staging an unauthorized production of Hamilton that infringed on the rights and copyrights of many.

The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church did not ask for, or receive, a license from the producers or creators of Hamilton to produce, stage, replicate or alter any part of Hamilton; nor did we seek prior permission to alter Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work by changing the music, the lyrics, deleting songs, and adding dialogue.

We respect the copyrights of Hamilton’s author and contributors. These copyrights are protected by federal law. We acknowledge there are lawful avenues to obtain a license to stage properties which we did not pursue. And it is never permissible to alter an artistic work such as Hamilton without legal permission. I recognize as the Pastor of the church that I have an obligation and responsibility to follow the law and educate our community about these protocols. Our ministry will use this moment as a learning opportunity about protected artistic works and intellectual property.

On behalf of The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church, we agree we will never stage the performance again and will destroy any and all video or sound recordings and images of the unauthorized performances or rehearsals, and request that all our members do the same. Lastly, we will pay damages for our actions.

 

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