Play-stealing cop suspended

From the CBC: Act Two of the saga of the play-stealing cop begins, as the plagiarizing producer of plays by Canadian writer David Belke and others is suspended from his job. Most curious to me: why did he steal just Canadian plays? Because they're so good? Because he thought they're so obscure nobody would ever notice? (I speak as a Canadian playwright.)

By the way, as proprietor of the online play publisher ProPlay, I sometimes talk with playwrights who don't want to publish on the web because they think their plays will get stolen. Note, though, that the play-stealing cop got his copies of the plays from a traditional publisher, and in print form. Occasional larceny, alas, is one of the hazards a playwright faces, and always has. Thankfully, thanks to technology, it's increasingly likely that thieves will get caught. And it's arguable that publishing online makes it far too hazardous to steal a play -- somebody, eventually, is going to notice.

Arguable? Hell, it's a fact. By the way, I'm pleased to say that we'll soon be adding some of David Belke's plays to ProPlay. Given the cop's widely-publicized experience, I have a feeling when people want to produce David's plays, they're going to arrange the rights first.

Labels: David Belke, plagiarism, playwrights, playwriting, ProPlay, theatre