Post #5: Controversy: Academic

Church Calls Off ‘Charlie Brown’ Christmas Show Amid Controversy

This particular controvery takes place in Little Rock Arkensass the towns local church called the Agape Church decided to put on a chirstmas play for their community and have a school feild trip for the kid of "A Charlie Browns Christmas" story. This play was based off of the 1965 movie and incorporated the telling of the Nativity story throught the gospals of Luke told to us by the character of Linus. A parent who felt the trip was inappropriate reached out to the ASF to voice her concern with the show’s religious connotations, which reportedly differed from her own, the station learned.
From there, a campaign was launched to cancel the class trip. “We’re not waging a war,” LeeWood Thomas, a spokesman for the group, told KATV. “We’re basically calling a foul against the separation of church and state.” The school district got involved as voted in the chrches favor but not before finding out that the chrch cancled the production the chruch had this to say: “In the wake of some controversy over our Christmas production offered to school, Agape Church wishes to salute the courageous stand that the Terry Elementary Principal made in not succumbing to the pressure of one complaint voiced to the Arkansas Society of Free Thinkers and media,” Caldwell said in the release, according to the station. ”We applaud the support that the Little Rock School District has shown … and agree with their position that attending the matinees was not a constitutional issue.”

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2012/12/05/church-calls-off-charlie-brown-christmas-show-amid-controversy/

Post #4: Controversy: Funding

Roosevelt Sued By Theater Directors December 17, 1994

This particular controversy happened back in 1995 at the University of Chicago and the owner of the theatre by the name of Roosevelt, this man was trying to gain funds to the university theatre department. Unfortunately in this circumstance he was able to do so he claimed that the theatres profit from their ticket sales and donations will be going no to only to the theatre but to the needs of the university at large. It was not till the financial breakdown came last year when the council found that Roosevelt was planning on using $1.5 million of the theatre's funds to go towards building a $17 million campus in Schaumburg. Council members Fred Eychaner and Betty Lou Weiss subsequently sued Roosevelt to prevent the university from using theater funds for any purpose other than the theater. "We don't believe that Roosevelt is worried about the best interests of the theater, and if it did, it wouldn't have tried to take $1.5 million out that had been targeted for restoration and renovation," said Jan Kallish, director of an advocacy group for the Auditorium formed during the controversy.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-12-17/news/9412170039_1_theater-money-non-theater-roosevelt-university

Post #3: Controversy: Copyright

Julie Taymor sues Spider-Man producers over unpaid royalties Sacked director and co-author wants more than $1m in compensation for work on Broadway's blockbuster musical

A very famous example that I was able to think of where a theatre production is in court is that of the famous Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, directed by the famous Julie Taymor. She sued the producers of the $75 million show in federal court back in November 2011 with clams that the show was profiting from her creative contributions without compensating her. The suit is for at least $1 million from the producers as well as future royalty payment. Ms. Taymor is claiming that even though she is no longer on the project that the producers continued to use about twenty-five percent of her original script but she is not being paid royalties for that work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/nov/09/julie-taymor-sues-spider-man

Post #2: Controversy: Staging

For the first time, a theatre play on homosexuality is being staged in Uganda, a country which has proposed an Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

I learned that not every time does a controversial event end in just a evil review but it can end up getting someone arrested, a British theater producer named David Cecil's was arrested in Uganda for offending the countries Ministry of Ethics. He had staged a play written about homosexuality in the Africa, Beau Hopkins’ controversial play “The River and the Mountain “and due to the events that transpired Uganda is trying to make it to where anyone is gay would be put to death. This bill became known as all over the world as the "kill the gays" and is still not a resolved issue to this day. 

http://journalstar.com/entertainment/arts-and-culture/theatre/unl-theater-professor-to-stage-reading-of-controversial-ugandan-play/article_709c3a20-c475-5d07-b464-97471e28daa3.html

Post #1: Controversy: Subject Matter

From Feb. 22 to Feb. 24, the Readers’ Theatre will perform a production of “Oleanna,” directed by Anne Marie Cummings, at The Black Box at Lehman Alternative Community School on Chestnut Street.

According to the Ithacan they say the subject matter of the play Olanna by David Mamet this seemingly harmless action sparks life-altering problems for both the professor and the student. When the newspaper asked her what she had to say as far as the overall message of the play she had this to say “I would love it for students to talk about it and share their experiences,” Cummings said. “The play certainly raises the question of higher education, and I think today we can ask the question, ‘What’s getting in the way between students and professors, and what’s getting in the way of a student learning?’” This play raised controversy written during the Clarence Thomas–Anita Hill controversy, which surrounded Hill’s accusation of sexual harassment against Thomas, a U.S. Supreme Court nominee.

http://theithacan.org/30047