by Paula Vogel
directed by Susie Schutt BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
THRU DECEMBER 23! |
"A spectacular play given, once again, a superb production."
- The Boston Globe "One of the finest Rhode Island Productions -- in this reviewer's opinion -- of recent memory. Highly recommended."
- Broadway World "A powerful indictment of oppression and censorship."
- EDGE Providence "Wonderful...great performances across the board!"
- The Public's Radio "Masterly crafted!"
- Warwick Beacon |
"Remarkable....Paula Vogel’s one-act play is more than a recounting of a landmark lesbian kiss. At the Wilbury Theatre Group in Providence, it’s a cogent testimony to the power of art...a spectacular play given, once again, a superb production."
-The Boston Globe
(read the review)
-The Boston Globe
(read the review)
ABOUT
Indecent
by Paula Vogel
Indecent, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, is inspired by the true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance—a play seen by some as a seminal work of Jewish culture, and by others as an act of traitorous libel. Indecent charts the history of an incendiary drama and the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it. Wilbury Theatre Group's critically acclaimed 2022/23 production played to sold-out audiences and added performances. This remount brings the production back to meet popular demand.
This production of INDECENT is made possible in part by the generous support of Elizabeth Armstrong, and a grant from the Florence Family Fund.
This production of INDECENT is made possible in part by the generous support of Elizabeth Armstrong, and a grant from the Florence Family Fund.
"A thought-provoking meta-theatrical meditation and a gripping, entertaining evening of theater, leavened with moments of (admittedly dark) humor, inventively staged and brilliantly acted. You should see this show because it is, simply, one of the finest Rhode Island Productions -- in this reviewer's opinion -- of recent memory. Highly recommended."
- Broadway World (read review)
- Broadway World (read review)
CAST + CREATIVE TEAM
Chris Stahl*
Aimee Doherty*
Scott Levine
Florence Wallis
|
Anna Slate
Dave Rabinow
Dylan Bowden
|
Patrick O'Konis
Claudia Traub
Assel Sat
|
INDECENT
By Paula Vogel Directed by Susie Schutt Choreographer, Ali Kenner Brodsky Music Director, Milly Massey Costume Designer, Dustin Thomas Light & Sound Designer, Andy Russ Special Effects, Barnaby Evans Dialect Coach, Becky Gibel Assistant Director, Jeff Ginsberg Technical Director, Dave Carney Original Music, Lisa Gutkin & Aaron Halva Original Costume Designer, Matt Oxley Original Set Designer, Jeremy Chiang Stage Manager, Emmy Varden* Asst. Stage Manager, Allison Marchetti Asst. Stage Manager, Lauren Kieler Wardrobe / Costume Asst., Arianna Davey Production Assistant, Edward Galts Props Assistant, Audrey Visscher Costume Intern, Vanessa Rose Dance Captain, Aimee Doherty Fight Choreography, Normand Beauregard Production Photographer, Erin X. Smithers Press / Media Inquiries: Niki Healy, Bright Publicity |
*Appears courtesy Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
REVIEWS FROM OUR 2022/23 SEASON PRODUCTION
"The intimate setting, profound message, commanding performances and hypnotic music make this production of 'Indecent' truly magical and undeniably unforgettable."
- Broadway World
“Masterly crafted....“The true story of a little Jewish play” by playwright Paula Vogel is given a masterful production at Wilbury Theatre Group in their reconfigured space at Waterfire Arts Center. There is so much in this play, and the play within the play, that will get you thinking about not only censorship, but anti-Semitism and prejudice as well.”
- Warwick Beacon
"Paula Vogel's Tony award-winning "Indecent," now being performed by Wilbury Theatre Group, asks fundamental questions about freedom, bigotry, sexual expression, and the responsibility of artists to their art and their communities...it's a powerful indictment of oppression and censorship, as well as a tribute to the men and women who are willing to risk their lives for the chance to express their inner selves."
- EDGE Providence
"The cast is wonderful...great performances across the board!"
- The Public's Radio
"It was indecent. It was shocking. It was pornographic. And a century ago, in 1923, its Broadway producer and cast were tried for obscenity. Now, this controversial play is back, in a way, as the Wilbury Theatre Group in Providence presents acclaimed playwright Paula Vogel’s “Indecent.” This is a play about a play, namely Yiddish writer Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance,” which created so much controversy 100 years ago..."
- The Providence Journal
"When the writer Sholem Asch wrote his play, “The God of Vengeance,” in 1906, he had no idea how much trouble his words would cause. Critics attacked the story for its central lesbian relationship. Fellow Jews detected antisemitic tropes. The script, first composed in Yiddish, caused linguistic friction among actors. During its Broadway debut, New York police shut down the production and arrested the cast on charges of obscenity. Decades after Asch finished typing his script, even the House Un-American Activities Committee seized its chance to push him around. Asch just couldn’t catch a break, right up to his death in 1957..."
- Jewish Rhode Island
“Indecent is a modern masterpiece of the American theatre and we are honored to be sharing this important work with Rhode Island audiences for the first time,” said Wilbury’s Artistic Director, Josh Short. “Not only is this play an incredible testament to the power of theatre to persist in even the most trying times, but in an environment where anti-Semitic incidents continue to be on the rise, it’s an essential reminder of the legacy of Jewish artists who believed fully in the enduring power of storytelling.”
- VIEW THE PRESS RELEASE
- Broadway World
“Masterly crafted....“The true story of a little Jewish play” by playwright Paula Vogel is given a masterful production at Wilbury Theatre Group in their reconfigured space at Waterfire Arts Center. There is so much in this play, and the play within the play, that will get you thinking about not only censorship, but anti-Semitism and prejudice as well.”
- Warwick Beacon
"Paula Vogel's Tony award-winning "Indecent," now being performed by Wilbury Theatre Group, asks fundamental questions about freedom, bigotry, sexual expression, and the responsibility of artists to their art and their communities...it's a powerful indictment of oppression and censorship, as well as a tribute to the men and women who are willing to risk their lives for the chance to express their inner selves."
- EDGE Providence
"The cast is wonderful...great performances across the board!"
- The Public's Radio
"It was indecent. It was shocking. It was pornographic. And a century ago, in 1923, its Broadway producer and cast were tried for obscenity. Now, this controversial play is back, in a way, as the Wilbury Theatre Group in Providence presents acclaimed playwright Paula Vogel’s “Indecent.” This is a play about a play, namely Yiddish writer Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance,” which created so much controversy 100 years ago..."
- The Providence Journal
"When the writer Sholem Asch wrote his play, “The God of Vengeance,” in 1906, he had no idea how much trouble his words would cause. Critics attacked the story for its central lesbian relationship. Fellow Jews detected antisemitic tropes. The script, first composed in Yiddish, caused linguistic friction among actors. During its Broadway debut, New York police shut down the production and arrested the cast on charges of obscenity. Decades after Asch finished typing his script, even the House Un-American Activities Committee seized its chance to push him around. Asch just couldn’t catch a break, right up to his death in 1957..."
- Jewish Rhode Island
“Indecent is a modern masterpiece of the American theatre and we are honored to be sharing this important work with Rhode Island audiences for the first time,” said Wilbury’s Artistic Director, Josh Short. “Not only is this play an incredible testament to the power of theatre to persist in even the most trying times, but in an environment where anti-Semitic incidents continue to be on the rise, it’s an essential reminder of the legacy of Jewish artists who believed fully in the enduring power of storytelling.”
- VIEW THE PRESS RELEASE
“The cast is wonderful...
great performances across the board!”
- The Public's Radio
great performances across the board!”
- The Public's Radio
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
PAULA VOGEL is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose plays include INDECENT (Tony Award for Best Play), HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (Broadway production set for spring 2020; Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lortel Prize, OBIE Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Awards for Best Play), THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME, THE MINEOLA TWINS, THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, HOT’N’THROBBING, DESDEMONA, AND BABY MAKES SEVEN, THE OLDEST PROFESSION and A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS.
Internationally, her plays have been produced in in English in Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and in translation in Italy, Germany, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland Slovenia, Canada, Portugal, France, Greece, Japanese, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and many other countries.
John Simon once remarked that Paula Vogel had more awards than a “black sofa collects lint.” Honors include induction in the American Theatre Hall of Fame, the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lily Award, the Thornton Wilder Prize, the Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the William Inge Award, the Elliott Norton Award, a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Award, a TCG Residency Award, a Guggenheim, a Pew Charitable Trust Award, and fellowships and residencies at Sundance Theatre Lab, Hedgebrook, The Rockefeller Center’s Bellagio Center, Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, and the Bunting.
Paula was playwright in residence at The Signature Theatre (2004-05 season), and Theatre Communications Group publishes six volumes of her work. Paula continues her playwriting intensives with community organizations, students, theater companies, subscribers and writers across the globe. She is the 2019 inaugural UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Hearst Theater Lab Initiative Distinguished Playwright-in-Residence and has recently taught at Sewanee, Shanghai Theatre Academy and Nanjing University, University of Texas at Austin, and the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. From 1984 to 2008, Paula Vogel founded and ran the playwriting program at Brown University; during that time she started a theatre workshop for women in Maximum Security at the Adults Correction Institute in Cranston, Rhode Island. It continues to this day, sponsored by the Pembroke Center for Women at Brown University. From 2008-2012, she was the O’Neill Chair at Yale School of Drama.
PaulaVogelPlaywright.com
Internationally, her plays have been produced in in English in Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and in translation in Italy, Germany, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland Slovenia, Canada, Portugal, France, Greece, Japanese, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and many other countries.
John Simon once remarked that Paula Vogel had more awards than a “black sofa collects lint.” Honors include induction in the American Theatre Hall of Fame, the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lily Award, the Thornton Wilder Prize, the Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the William Inge Award, the Elliott Norton Award, a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Award, a TCG Residency Award, a Guggenheim, a Pew Charitable Trust Award, and fellowships and residencies at Sundance Theatre Lab, Hedgebrook, The Rockefeller Center’s Bellagio Center, Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, and the Bunting.
Paula was playwright in residence at The Signature Theatre (2004-05 season), and Theatre Communications Group publishes six volumes of her work. Paula continues her playwriting intensives with community organizations, students, theater companies, subscribers and writers across the globe. She is the 2019 inaugural UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Hearst Theater Lab Initiative Distinguished Playwright-in-Residence and has recently taught at Sewanee, Shanghai Theatre Academy and Nanjing University, University of Texas at Austin, and the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. From 1984 to 2008, Paula Vogel founded and ran the playwriting program at Brown University; during that time she started a theatre workshop for women in Maximum Security at the Adults Correction Institute in Cranston, Rhode Island. It continues to this day, sponsored by the Pembroke Center for Women at Brown University. From 2008-2012, she was the O’Neill Chair at Yale School of Drama.
PaulaVogelPlaywright.com
ABOUT
An award-winning*, not-for-profit professional theatre company, the Wilbury Theatre Group engages our community in thought-provoking conversation through new works, reimagined classics and adventurous playmaking. We are idealistic, ambitious, and stubborn in our resolve to create theatre that entertains, enlightens, and inspires.
*WINNER of the 2018 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (The Tony Awards).
*WINNER of the 2018 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (The Tony Awards).
