Two leading theater companies are arguing about who owns the name ‘teelgroep Amsterdam’.
In March theater collective De Warme Winkel surprised friend and foe with the announcement of the new name, theater group Amsterdam. Until 2018, that was the name of the current International Theater Amsterdam (ITA in popular speech). International Theater Amsterdam is now threatening legal action against theater group Amsterdam if the collective does not reverse the name change.
There has been no official response from ITA in recent months. But last week theater group Amsterdam received from ITA, which is under the artistic direction of Ivo van Hove, a letter from the ITA lawyer, in which the group has until June 16 to undo the name change. Otherwise “legal steps” would follow, says Ward Weemhoff, one of the three core members of theater group Amsterdam.
At the time, De Warme Winkel wrote in the press release accompanying the name change: “We pick up the coat that ITA left lying around with love and respect and put it on.” But now ITA says they haven’t dropped that jacket and are still using it, Weemhoff said.
Property name ITA
ITA says in a response: “The name ‘Toneelgroep Amsterdam’ is owned by ITA and is not free to use by third parties. The name has been used for more than 30 years and represents a decades-long tradition. Nationally and internationally, ITA still enjoys great fame with the name Toneelgroep Amsterdam. It is partly for this reason that the websites theatergroepamsterdam.nl and tga.nl are still managed and maintained. The use of the name theater group Amsterdam by de Warme Winkel has led to confusion among the public several times in recent times.”
After several attempts at consultation, “the deployment of a lawyer underlines the request that the name no longer be used illegally,” according to ITA. ITA emphasizes that the two groups have been working together for many years. A co-production is also planned for next season.
Petition for name change
Toneelgroep Amsterdam/ formerly De Warme Winkel has now started a signature campaign, according to Ward Weemhoff. “We cannot win a lawsuit, we had already had that sorted out,” he says. “But we still hope to convince ITA and to consider the name appropriation as an artistic act. We don’t want to go to court at all, we can’t afford that as a small group.”
According to Weemhoff, the name change could count on a lot of support and cooperation from the theater sector. To make that acclaim concrete, the group has started a signature campaign. In the letter accompanying the petition, the drama group writes, among other things, that the name change is not a ‘provocation’, but is intended to ‘inspire’. The signature campaign and publicity about it is “a last straw”, according to Weemhoff.
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