Rent Controversy Case Study

Ryan Zucker Zucker 1
Welch
Thea-110-003
26 October 2015
Title

The primary lesson to be learned from these cases is that in a collaborative production, everyone involved must be in agreement over who holds ownership of the material. And in addition what changes, if any, can be made to it and how it should be documented in writing.
In the Rent Controversy, the main parties involved were the dramaturg, Lynn Thomson, and the playwright’s heirs. The issue was how the royalties should be distributed with regard to Thomson, because the original playwright, Jonathan Larson, unexpectedly passed away. There was no written instruction on how Thomson should be compensated, if at all. It was Thomson’s word against the heirs’. Even another playwright, Tony Kushman,

The issue here arose when Lumpkin changed the dialogue, the order of events, and even cut whole songs all without the Green’s permission. Before long, a cease and desist letter was sent to Lumpkin’s theatre, and the rest of the shows were cancelled. This case is important to study because it demonstrates the importance of cooperation between all members of the production team and authors.
What makes these cases similar is that they both contained a breakdown of communications between collaborators, and this was responsible for both issues, though they arose from different circumstances. What separates them is also the type of copyright infringement that was perpetrated. In the first case, a dramaturg claimed to have contributed to the final product. While this may be true, there is no documentation prove it or disprove it. In the second case, the perpetration was arguably more malicious. The director deliberately changed the final product of the play without the authors’