On February 19, 1993, the New York Times reported that a furious dispute between the Dramatists` Guild and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago arose this week, when five major playwrights turned their complaints over a Broadway production contract into a conference that Steppenwolf harassed another author for signature. The dispute literally qualifies the terms of the agreement signed by Tug Yourgrau, whose first play, The Song of Jacob Zulu, is set to open on March 24 at the Plymouth Theatre, the worst thing the guild has ever seen, and once again highlights the struggles of the guild dramatists, which has suffered its share of setbacks in the struggle for writers` claims. September is Copyright Advocacy Month at the Dramatists Guild! For 30 days, the DG gives advice on what exactly copyright means, how it benefits playwrights and what you can do to protect your copyright. The Dramatists Guild will post this information on its social networks, send it by e-mail and publish it on its website, www.dramatistsguild.com/copyright-advocacy. At the heart of the Jacob Zulu situation is the vulnerable position of playwrights in American commercial theater and the guild`s inability to protect it. The urgency of the playwright and the inefficiency of the guild are clearly revealed in this case, as Yourgrau`s acceptance of the poor quality contract led to his suspension from the guild. Yourgrau said that I really regret having to choose between the Broadway production and the Guild. Certainly, no one would question his choice. The most confusing questions are why the playwright was forced to make a decision and why the guild punished the playwright instead of the producer. «In 1919, a group of influential playwrights founded the Dramatists Guild with the primary goal of ensuring that playwrights, composers, writers, and librettists always retain ownership and control of their copyrights,» noted Doug Wright, president of the guild council. «That`s why today, unlike our colleagues in film, television, and streaming platforms, American playwrights can`t be rewritten spontaneously by actors, directors, or producers, and that`s why we retain significant permissions for any creative decision made in the name of our work. The guild has existed (in part) to protect and vehemently defend copyright for over 100 years.

We look forward to the abundance of resources planned for the coming month that reaffirm our purpose in a variety of entertaining and informative ways. The Playwrights` Guild considered the Jacob Zulu contract unfair to the playwright, as it prefuses a direct payment of $3,750 per week, instead of the standard royalty percentage of gross weekly receipts (GWBOR), which could have been $20,000 per week for Yourgrau. The essence of the guild`s position is that the playwright was forced to fund the play.