Intellectual Property and Rights

Playwright and attorney Cheryl Davis delves into the legal specifics of Creative Commons and fair use, explaining how artists can use them to fit their needs.

Eric Kildow looks at the letter written by Doug Wright of the Dramatists Guild in the wake of casting conflicts and at the cease and desist letters sent to the creators of thatswhatshesaid in the context of what they mean for the nature of collaboration and collective control of the means of production. 

Regina Buccola discusses Ed Proudfoot’s Chewing on Beckett, a contemporary reimagining of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot with an all-female cast. 

Dramaturg and rhetoric instructor, Arwen Mitchell, explores artistic ownership, intellectual property, and new idea formation in consideration of Samuel French’s cease-and-desist orders to thatswhatshesaid. 

Edward Einhorn discusses the benefits and pitfalls of posting scripts online.

Ashley Moniz and Courtney Kochuba introduce this series of articles and live events taking place this week online and in New York City.

#RightsWeek post: While I think the databases may be useful for schools and small companies, at the highest level I question whether access to plays is really the rate-limiter behind getting more plays to production. Rather I think the dialogue between producers and playwrights is limited and opaque and inauthentic, leading to misspent efforts all around.

Sean Patrick Flahaven offers insight into how artists can protect their intellectual property from piracy. 

#RightsWeek post: No one gets into directing new plays because they want to copy someone else’s work. For me, the fun is in solving a monumental problem in a completely unique and aesthetically elegant manner.

Creativity and collaboration both rely on trust and on the work of other people. But the law seeks to make the murky concrete, and the complicated simple. This is why we should keep our understanding of piracy (and for that matter, plagiarism) to the very clear cases when scripts and designs are used without their creators’ permission.

Isaac Butler argues for a re-thinking of the way we as theater artists approach and apply copyright and intellectual property.