A lawyer who filed the lawsuit for Ms. Lee’s estate, Matthew H. Lembke, declined to comment.

There is a long history of writers and others who claim authorship bringing legal action against theatrical producers, although those disputes have typically been over credit, not content. Among recent examples were lawsuits over “Anastasia,” “Jersey Boys,” “Fela!” and “Rent” — none of which stopped the productions. Last year Mr. Rudin was sued by the University of the South, which owns the rights to plays by Tennessee Williams, over credit and royalties from last year’s Broadway revival of “The Glass Menagerie.”

Literary estates can also be quite aggressive in seeking to control various elements of theatrical productions. The estate of Samuel Beckett has been famously restrictive, and the estate of Edward Albee reserves the right to approve creative teams and casts for productions of his plays.

The “Mockingbird” adaptation is being directed by Bartlett Sher, who has extensive experience wrestling with authorial intent — this season he is directing a revival of “My Fair Lady,” and he previously directed Broadway revivals of “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The King and I” and “South Pacific.”

The cast is led by Jeff Daniels, as Atticus, and includes Celia Keenan-Bolger as his daughter, Scout; Will Pullen as her brother, Jem; and Gideon Glick as their friend Dill. Casting for the role of Arthur (Boo) Radley has not yet been announced.

Mr. Rudin said he was surprised by the estate’s criticism of Mr. Sorkin’s depiction of Atticus because Ms. Carter had been instrumental in the 2015 publication of “Go Set a Watchman,” an early draft of “Mockingbird” that depicted an aged Atticus as a racist and segregationist.

The lawsuit states that the play should not deviate from the depiction of Atticus in “Mockingbird,” where he is presented as a defender of racial equality in a divided south. “Based on Ms. Lee’s own father, a small-town Alabama lawyer who represented black defendants in a criminal trial, Atticus Finch is portrayed in the novel as a model of wisdom, integrity, and professionalism,” the suit says.

Ms. Lee signed the contract authorizing the play in June 2015, eight months before she died at age 89. She received $100,000 for the production rights, as well as what Broadway experts described as a generous portion of the box office revenue and any net profit.