Just a day after the Texas Church that produced multiple unauthorized performances of an altered version of Hamilton stated it would pay damages, the show’s producers have announced plans to donate those funds.
“Hamilton will be donating all damages paid by The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church to the South Texas Equality Project,” the production said in a statement. STEP is a coalition of organizations in the state that focus on advocacy, education and support for the LGBTQ+ community in Rio Grande Valley.
The news follows a statement Tuesday from the church’s pastor Roman Gutierrez, confirming the fellowship neither sought nor obtained license to produce the show for its two early August performances, including one which was live-streamed.
“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,” the statement reads.
In addition to damages, the church agreed it would “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 all of our members do the same.”
Clips of the live-streamed performance show scenes not from the original musical of characters making direct religious references, including repenting the “lord and savior,” along with a highly criticized post-show sermon that suggested being gay is a sin and something an individual may “struggle with.”
The apology came over a week after Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda made a public statement denouncing the church’s reproduction. “Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production. Now lawyers do their work,” Miranda tweeted.
