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Rent Strike

The dramaturg for the hit Broadway musical "Rent" is suing the estate of the show's late author. Lynn Thompson claims that her contributions went far beyond the fee she was paid. Thompson wants 16% of playwright Jonathan Larson's royalties. She says she did extensive rewriting, and was more of a co-creator than the mere "editor" that the Larson estate says she was. The suit is creating some worry in the theater world about whether it will have a chilling effect on the often informal creative collaborations that occur among playwrights, directors, and other theater professionals. NPR's Melissa Block reports.

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