Media and Society Lecture:
Art Isn't Easy: Protecting the American Playwright
John Weidman, Esq., President of the Dramatists Guild of America

Wednesday, October 25, 2006
12:30-2:00 p.m.
Subotnick Center


In the movies, the director receives a possessory credit. Jaws is Steven Spielberg's Jaws, Psycho Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. In the theater, for as long as anyone can remember, this place of honor has been reserved exclusively for the playwright. No matter who directs it, Macbeth is Shakespeare's Macbeth. No matter who produces it, Death of a Salesman is Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. This notion that the play belongs to the playwright, both legally and artistically, has been a linchpin of theatrical production.

View video from this event (Windows Media) Read more about the legal issues Read more about John Weidman

Now, however, for the first time, the centrality of the playwright's unique, idiosyncratic voice is being challenged in several recent law suits, by both producers and directors, with results that are uncertain, unpredictable, and potentially disastrous, not only for playwrights, but for the future of the American theater.

John Weidman, President of the Dramatists Guild of America for the past eight years, has written for the musical theater for almost 30 years. He has been nominated for three Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical, and three of the shows for which he has written the book have won the Tony Award for either Best Musical or Best Musical Revival. Mr. Weidman received his law degree from Yale Law School.

This is the seventh Media and Society Lecture hosted by the Law School. The past programs have covered a broad range of topics and media-related issues. Among some of the outstanding past speakers have been former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, former CEO of The New York Times Company Rusell Lewis ’73, economic journalist and business forecaster Knight Kiplinger, and New York Times journalists Linda Greenhouse, Anthony Lewis, and Sam Roberts.