Answers to your most urgent questions about the Helen Hayes nominations

Comments

1. TheatreGal says

   February 4, 2016 at 1:24 pm

   Dear TheatreWashington,
   This year you nominated many fine actors, productions and theater companies. But I have to point out that you gave two nominations to a show that ripped off the work of other artists, done by a theater with a habit stealing. Yeah, I’m talking about Flying V and Flying V Fights, the second in a series of shows that relied heavily on using music that they didn’t have the rights to use. In case you’re not familiar with the copyright laws here, that’s not only a federal crime it subjects them to severe civil penalties.
   It’s also not the first time they’ve done it. The first Flying V Fights: Love is a Battlefield did the same thing. Oh and then there’s the stage readings where they so lovingly “adapted” Batman graphic novels without the rights or permission to do so.
   See any patterns here? Not only is this blatantly illegal (the right of adaptation rests with the copyright holder, usually the author), it’s horribly unethical — especially for a group of people who call them artists. As writers, performers we really on copyright to protect our work so that we can continue to make our work and earn a living from it. You might disagree with the extension of copyright protection as it currently exists and that’s a discussion we can absolutely have, but it doesn’t change the fact that Flying V and its creative teams — whom you’ve chosen to honor and validate — are violating the law and disrespecting their fellow artists.
   Let me put it to you this way. If I wrote a play, could Flying V say, hey that’s a great play. We’re going to stage it but… we’re not going to pay the license fee. If I wrote a novel, could Flying V say, hey that’s a great novel. We’re going to turn it into a stage reading and perform it without your permission. What if one of you wrote the play or the novel or the song that they then stole and used for their own purposes? You’d probably be rightfully unhappy about that.
   But here we are, and they’ve got two nominations (not to mention a number of other accolades ceremoniously dished out upon them by the DC theatre community at large).
   It’s not okay to steal the work of other artists. It’s worse, though, when an organization ostensibly designed to support the arts gives its tacit approval to this kind of morally, legally and ethically repugnant behavior. The nominations should be withdrawn.
   If Flying V has any artistic integrity, it will stop stealing from other artists and decline these nominations for work that is at best, tainted.

2. Ed Kelty says

   February 3, 2016 at 11:26 am

   We have seen many of these wonderful productions, but missed others. Washington has an amazing variety of expert shows in many categories. People have asked us if we want to retire to Arizona or Florida. With such richness in Washington, why would we want to live anywhere else?