Here is an explanation of how the check got cashed in the messy process and also weighs in strongly on the side of the playwright:
http://bittergertrude.com/2015/11/15/the-real-story-of-clarion-and-lloyd-suh/
It happens more often than most people know that schools/camps/theatre companies produce material that they do not have the rights to, that they change things they aren’t allowed to, and that they alter the details specified in a licensing agreement. The licensing agencies have people whose job it is to deal with these breaches.
If we can believe the many articles on this, the director at Clarion should be ashamed of herself and if the students are devastated, it is she that deserves the blame.
@KaMaMom, thanks for clarifying! I misunderstood “there was no fully executed licensing agreement” to mean “there was no licensing agreement period.” Very tangled web here!