Cruise-Kidman taped conversation removed from show

A controversial theatre production in Chicago, Illinois, has been forced to drop the reading of an illicitly taped phone conversation between TOM CRUISE and NICOLE KIDMAN from its show. The play VERBATIM VERBOTEN features stage readings of secretly recorded conversations of the rich and famous, but Cruise has fired off a legal missive to producers prompting them to drop a dramatised conversation he had with his then wife. The scripted words come from a 1999 cell phone conversation between the couple that led to photographer ERIC FORD being indicted on phone-tapping charges after he confessed to illegally taping the chat. In a cease-and-desist letter obtained by a CHICAGO SUN-TIMES columnist, Cruise's legal team has informed the director of the play that the use of the telephone conversation in the play is illegal, and demanded it be removed from the show. A source close to the production claims the conversation has been replaced with a theatrical rendition of Cruise's cease and desist letter.