‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ play to go on under Harper Lee group

To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee has started a non-profit company that will produce a play about the book, ending a dispute that threatened to derail the long-running performance, a publishing group said on Saturday.

Dramatic Publishing Co had refused to extend the performance rights for the production in Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, but the Illinois-based publishing company said on Saturday on its Facebook page that Lee has founded a new, non-profit group called the Mockingbird Company. The organisation will produce the play beginning next year.

“We are also happy to announce that the play will be performed by Mockingbird Players, who have acted this American classic so well for so long,” the statement said. “We believe that this is the best way [from the stage] to celebrate Ms Lee’s masterpiece throughout the greater Monroeville area.”

The Monroe County Heritage Museum has staged the play for years, but it has been involved in legal disputes with Lee in the past.

Lee sued the museum in 2013 over Mockingbird souvenirs sold in its store after the museum opposed her application for a federal trademark for the title of her book. The dispute has since been settled.