Author: Laurel Wamsley / Source: NPR.org
In the latest battle involving the works of Harper Lee, the author’s estate is suing producer Scott Rudin over the script of an upcoming Broadway play of To Kill A Mockingbird.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Alabama, Lee’s estate complains that the new production by Rudin and writer Aaron Sorkin deviates too much from the novel.
Lee died in February 2016. Her estate maintains that the contract signed between Lee and Rudin’s production company, Rudinplay, in 2015 requires that the play “not derogate or depart in any manner from the spirit of the Novel nor alter its characters,” and that the estate has the final authority to determine whether such departures have occurred.
Rudin’s attorneys argue that even if Lee’s estate believes the play does deviate from the novel, it’s Rudinplay, not Lee’s lawyer, that is the final arbiter of that decision.
Lee’s estate is managed by Tonja Carter, a lawyer in the author’s hometown of Monroeville, Ala.
In a statement to the New York Times, Rudin said the “estate has an unfortunate history of litigious behavior and of both filing and being the recipient of numerous lawsuits, and has been the subject of considerable controversy based on the perceptions surrounding its handling of the work of Harper Lee both before and after her death.”
“This is, unfortunately,” he added, “simply another such lawsuit, the latest of many, and we believe that it is without merit. While we hope this gets resolved, if it does not, the suit will be vigorously defended.”
Rudin’s production will be the first time To Kill A Mockingbird has been performed on Broadway, and it was touted in a two-page ad in the Times more than a year before it is due to premiere. He reportedly paid $100,000 for the production rights, as well as a portion of…
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