The collection aims to provide detailed reference information for every author, every play, every theatre, every major production, and every production company, from Colonial times to the present, in both Canada and the United States.  This is a work in progress.  At a minimum we aim to create a skeleton record for each of these items.  Over time the entries for each item will become progressively more detailed.

To begin with our attention has been on major authors and major productions of major works.  As our researchers uncover more information this will change.

The database includes some information on people, theatres, plays and other items outside North America.  These are included because in some way they impacted the North American theatrical scene.  For example, we include major foreign performances of American plays and we include foreign actors and plays performed here in North America.

It is our goal to have no errors in this database. Below are known errors in this release of the database which will be rectified in the next release.

• The title of the play PL035730 is listed as "El Vizca&iagrave;no Fingindo", but should be "El Vizcaino Fingido".

North American Theatre Online will be released on a quarterly schedule.

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1. THE PARTIES: "Customer" means the person(s) and/or organization that have ordered or are taking a trial of the Product(s) as listed in Appendix A. The location listed in Appendix A is the "Site." "ASP" means Alexander Street Press, LLC, whose registered offices are situated at 38 Alexander Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. "IP" means the owners of copyright in the original materials that form part of the Product(s).

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The Customer's rights are limited to itself alone and do not extend to subsidiary or parent corporations, or to any other related or affiliated organizations. Any rights not expressly granted in this license are reserved to ASP.

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5. AUTHORIZED USERS: Authorized Users are the Customer's currently enrolled full- or part-time students, employees, faculty, staff, affiliated researchers, distance learners, visiting scholars, and walk-in patrons who are physically present at the Site. The Product(s) may be used by the licensed number of simultaneous users for which the Customer has paid.

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11. LIMITATION OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY: ASP warrants that any tape or disk licensed hereunder is free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use. ASP will replace defective tapes and disks free of charge upon their return to ASP. This will be ASP's and the IP's entire liability with respect to this license. ASP and the IPs warrant and represent that they have the right to enter into this Agreement and to deliver the Product(s) "as is."

These warranties are in lieu of any and all other warranties, written or oral, express or implied, including without limitation, warranties of merchantability of fitness for a particular purpose, all of which ASP disclaims. In no event will ASP be liable for more than the license fee paid (whether such liability arises from breach of warranty, breach of this contract or otherwise, and whether in contract or in tort, including negligence and strict liability).

12. TERMINATION: If the Customer breaches any term of this Agreement, ASP may, in addition to its other legal rights and remedies, terminate this license on 7 days written notice to Customer, if Customer has not remedied the breach within the 7 days. Upon any termination, the Customer will forthwith return to ASP the Product(s) and all copies thereof, and will erase all electronic storage of copies of the Product(s). Any termination, whether or not pursuant to this Article 13, will not affect any obligation or liability of a party arising prior to termination, and the provisions of Articles 12 will survive any termination.

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Appendix A

• The Customer is XXXX
• The Site is XXXXX
• Authorized Users are the Customer's currently enrolled full-time or part-time students, employees, faculty, staff, affiliated researchers, distance learners, visiting scholars, and walk-in patrons who are physically present at the Site.
• Nominated technical support staff is XXXXX

North American Theatre Online  was made possible through the hard work of many individuals.  I'd particularly like to acknowledge:

Our goal is to create a unique archive of North American Theatre Online according to the editorial criteria expressed above. We welcome contributions from organizations and individuals, especially if you have materials that are unpublished or of unique interest. Submitting materials to our editors is easy and without obligation on your part. If you have collections of substantial value, we may be able to pay you a royalty in return for the rights to use them.

Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that plays and materials in this database are fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, and all other countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the British Commonwealth and Canada), and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and the Universal Copyright Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations.  All rights, including but not limited to professional, amateur, motion pictures, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, including information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and the rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

Plays from this collection may not be performed without securing permission from the appropriate copyright holders.  Particular emphasis is laid upon the question of readings, permission for which must be secured in writing.  All production rights reserved.  Under no circumstances may any electronic form (CD-ROM, online, or other local storage medium) be used to create production copies of the play.

Specific performance rights information for each play can be found in the bibliographic detail display for that play.  Alexander Street Press makes no guarantee that this information is correct.  For plays where no performance rights information is listed Alexander Street Press does not warrant that no performance rights exist.

Texts produced for North American Theatre Online are considered research materials and receive the same level of stewardship as books, paper documents, and photographs. Once complete, copies of the database will be given to all purchasing institutions, so ensuring that the materials are available to subsequent generations.

We will be making MARC records available for this collection. Each play and reference book will be given its own MARC record to allow linking directly from the OPAC to the individual item. This will enable patrons to link directly from a public access catalog to all documents pertaining to that author.