Mae West: Licensing Is Free

For years, lawyers who controlled the rights to the plays of MAE WEST frustrated producers by denying access or dangling permission and then causing delays.
• • ”The agency that represented Mae West is now defunct ...” • •

• • According to Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre,”The agency that represented Mae West is now defunct and the play 'The Drag' is public domain.“ And this would mean all the other plays by Mae West are, too. Interesting... if accurate.
• • In their effort to Expand the Canon, Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre will offer a list  of nine plays by women  and encourages other theatre companies to follow suit.
• • Four of these plays will be staged in a digital reading series this fall, including Bold Stroke for a Husband by Hannah Cowley and House of Desires by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.
• • In addition to the works by Cowley and de la Cruz, the plays selected for 2020 are: A Bold Stroke for a Wife by Susanna Centilivre, Her Soul by Amelia P. Roselli, Rachel by Angelina W. Grimke, Restless Night in Late Spring by Fumiko Enchi, Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston, The Drag by Mae West, and Wedding Band by Alice Childress.
• • “From hundreds of plays by women, we chose 9 that span history, geography, and subject matter—and are by writers from diverse backgrounds,” said Mary Candler, artistic director of Hedgepig. “Each play takes on relevant conversations to this moment and can easily, and meaningfully, slot into 2021 seasons.”
• • Expand the Canon is a call to action for theatres to stage classical plays by women and to include more diversity in their repertoire. The project aims to ensure that what’s considered a “classic” includes a diverse set of women’s voices from history.
• • The Do This Play: Expand the Canon virtual reading series kicks off September 22.  ...
• • The Drag by Mae West (1927) • •
• • If you thought LGBTQ+ culture was invented in the 1960s, think again… Witty, tragic, and vibrant, The Drag is an exquisite portrait of the existing LGBTQ+ community of the 1920s. Mae West crafts an eloquent history lesson mixed with joyful celebration. The Drag shows the perils of “conversion therapy” and the criminalization of homosexuality, while simultaneously presenting in delightful clarity the  same joys, losses, warmth, and transgressive counter-culture that our LGBTQ+ family feels to this day.  
• • Mae West was one of the most multi-disciplinary and controversial artists of the 20th century, known for her comic chops, fearless sensuality, and toeing the lines of censorship. An icon of the sexual revolution, she proclaimed “I was the first liberated woman, you know. No guy was going to get the best of me.”  When she was arrested for the “indecency” of her plays, she took a limo [sic] to jail. [Editor: nobody fact-checks. Amazing.] 
• • Licensing: According to Hedgepig,”The agency that represented Mae West is now defunct and the play is public domain. “
• • Download the script here: https://www.hedgepigensemble.org/expand-the-canon
• • Happy Birthday, Rona Barrett • •
• • Rona Barrett, a gossip columnist and friend of Mae West's, was born on Thursday, 8 October 1936.  Hope it's a beautiful day for you, Miss Rona.
• • On Tuesday, 8 October 1935 • •
• • "Plot to Disfigure Mae West Foiled" was an article syndicated to several papers. These threats must have been so frightening. Jeez.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is her own plot.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Oh, those law suits cost a lot."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A campus newspaper in NYC mentioned Mae West.
• • Will Rogers wrote to the Torch of Fullertown Junior College last Spring: "I have no message for you. ... The trouble with youth nowadays is that everybody wants to advise them, and we don't know what to do ourselves. ... If I know any Latin words I'd quote 'em to you. The Latins all died out because they couldn't learn their own language. My message to you is don't miss the next Mae West picture." ...
• • Source: Columbia Daily Spectator; published on Tuesday, 8 October 1935
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 16th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,578th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • after being arrested (with the cast) at the precinct • •
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