The Legal Balance Among Participants of the Theatrical Process
Theater and performance law brings together the rules that govern the journey from the creation of a production to its public showing, and structures the relationships among the playwright, the theater and the actors. In Georgia this field rests on the Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights: its Article 17 defines the author's personal non-property rights, Article 18 the author's property rights, including the right of public performance and transmission of the work, and Article 47 the personal and property rights of the performer, including the actor, in the performance.
In stage-law practice three questions dominate: who controls the text and changes to it; by whose consent the production may be shown and transmitted; and what rights the actor has in their own performance. Answers to these questions, in the precise terms of the law, follow.
The Playwright's Personal Non-Property Rights
The author has personal non-property rights in the work (Article 17): the right to be recognized as the author of the work and to demand such recognition in every use; to indicate a pseudonym instead of the name; to decide when, where and in what form to make known the fact of the work's creation; to permit other persons to introduce changes in the work itself, its title and the author's name, and to oppose the introduction of changes without consent (the right of integrity of the work); and to protect the work from any distortion or other violation that may damage the author's honor, dignity or business reputation. A text adapted for the stage is also under this protection: unauthorized changes introduced in a production may prove to be a violation of the right of integrity.
The author also has the right to demand the cessation of use of the work (the right of withdrawal); in that case the author is obliged to publicly declare the withdrawal, it is exercised at the author's expense, and the user must be compensated for damage caused, including lost profit. Personal non-property rights belong to the author independently of property rights and their alienation during the author's lifetime is impermissible.