Is it normal to be charged a bond in amateur musicals?

Na, I don't think this is actually defined - lol. I know there is such a thing as an A1 venue - but amateur companies can still use it. There are more restrictions on this though. For instance, Disney will not allow amateur productions of musicals based on their movies (eg. Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Lion King etc) to be performed in an A1 venue. It doesn't matter how good the quality might be, they won't budge - believe me, we've been trying to get them to. As far as what constitutes an A1 venue, I think there are a few factors. For instance - audience capacity, stage size, # of fly bars and other things like that. We have two here in Perth - The Burswood Theatre and His Majesty's Theatre - both are REALLY different with a HUGE variation in tech capabilities! My friends and I have had the "what constitutes a pro theatre" discussion a couple of times. I personally think a venue is a venue - it's the show that's pro or amateur. Some of my friends seem to think that a pro venue needs to have a full fly tower, amplification capabilities (meaning microphones for singers) and an auditorium of at least 500 seats. That's their opinion - as I said, I disagree. I would love to get your thoughts on the matter though - I like reading what you have to say on things, you make some very astute observations! Darren