BLG acquires Amateur Licensing Rights for school productions of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

An exciting partnership has been announced which will bring Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to high school and secondary school theatre programs worldwide starting in 2024. 

Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said: “We are delighted to be working with Broadway Licensing Group so that schools around the world can stage their own productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We’re very proud that over half of the play’s audiences worldwide have been first time theatregoers. With this schools version, we hope to broaden that audience even further by introducing younger generations to the magic of live theatre. We can’t wait to see how students embrace their creativity and bring the magic of the wizarding world to life on their school stages. It's extremely exciting for us all.” 

Broadway Licensing is in development with the show’s original creative team, including playwright Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany, producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, and with sign-off by J.K. Rowling, to adapt the script for high school and secondary school theatres, including a new, shorter runtime, as well as new creative techniques to convert the highly technical wizardry of the original production into magic and spells that schools can achieve with no matter their budget sizes and socioeconomic backgrounds. 

Director John Tiffany said: “When I was developing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with the creative team, one of our founding principles was that the magic, illusions and special effects should have their roots in storytelling techniques that could be achieved when playing at home or in school. This might involve borrowing your teacher's winter coat to act out the effects of taking Polyjuice Potion, or raiding the loft for suitcases to create the Hogwarts Express. So opening the world of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child up to schools is thrilling and feels like the natural next step in our journey." 

Pilot productions of the school edition will take place in the UK and US in Spring 2024, with worldwide release for schools shortly after. Amateur productions will roll out later. Theatre educators can get more details and express their interest in staging the production by visiting LicenseCursedChild.com.