Female Production of Sam Shepard's True West Shut Down in New York - playbill.com

[dry2olives]

Posted: 3/9/04 at 2:12pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/l.cfm?id=24087

"We paid for the rights to present this play in August 2003, and in all the months leading up to the production it was never communicated to me that we could not change the genders of the lead characters," Indigo producer Thomas Hays said in a statement. "That was simply not presented as a condition of production."

I'm assuming he signed a standard contract and I'd be stunned if it did not include the standard clause that no changes may be made without permission. That includes the gender of the character.

The producer seems to be making Shepard's agent out to be the villian when it seems as though he acted irresponsibly by not requesting permission to make a big change in the play. No matter how good the production may be, the author has rights that need to be protected.

Posted: 3/9/04 at 2:55pm

Shepard has a history of being very protective of his work. Our community theater which is well respected and have been quality productions for over 50 years wanted to do his plays more than once have been turned down because he is concerned about poor quality productions. Our script selection committes know not to bother even reading his material anymore.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/9/04 at 3:02pm

Stephen Sondheim shut down a production of "Company" here in Seattle about ten years ago where the concept was all the characters were gay men. It's just not what is written.

Doing "True West" with women strikes me as kind of stupid. It's not ABOUT women. Yes, yes I know we are supposed to feel sorry for the actresses because male parts in drama outnumber female parts so why can't Shepard just lighten up and blah, blah, blah...

It's not what was written, that's why. And it's a bad idea to boot. So there.

[nyctopone]

Posted: 3/10/04 at 3:03pm

Now a production spkesperson is saying the theatre will continue its run despite having the rights taken away. This show should be shut down, Now. If they wanted to change something that drastic, then permission should have been sought. They didn't, so they have no one to blame but themselves.

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/10/04 at 3:05pm

I'm sorry...but even a retarded dog would know they can't change the sex of the characters without written permission from the author.

You wanna do an edgy, cross-gender casting of a play?

Two words: Public Domain

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/10/04 at 5:34pm

tommyboy, I'm shocked that Shepard is protective of his work. I once saw a production of A Lie of the Mind that was horrible. The pace of the show was so slow, I literally thought time had come to a halt. I had to laugh when I read the review in the local paper and the theater critic said that there were too many pauses.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 3/10/04 at 7:57pm

2 of the most famous examples of Authors refusing changes are Williams flying to Germany to stop a production of Streetcar w a Black actor playing Stanley Kolalski. ( Just NOT the play he wrote) & the all male version of Virgina Wolff (long rumoured to have originally been written for that casting)