Asch Sholem - Indecent

NY1 A riveting drama. VARIETY A tender, unconventional play... An original and vibrant approach, Indecent is a project of reclamation, an homage and a recuperation of a text that had its cultural moment and then vanished almost entirely. Indecent has tremendous affection for the whole of the play and makes you long for the scenes... exquisite. HOLLYWOOD REPORTERIndecent reminds us of the power of art to tell us truths long before we are able to recognize them as such. LOS ANGELES TIMES Love of art, truth, same-sex partners, as well as the persecution of artists and the Jews arent exactly underplayed themes in theater. LOS ANGELES TIMES Love of art, truth, same-sex partners, as well as the persecution of artists and the Jews arent exactly underplayed themes in theater.

But, oh, how deftly Paula Vogel crafts them into Indecent... Replete with freshness and vitality, Indecent is earnest without sentimentality, embraceable without solicitation, and inspiring without didacticism. NEW HAVEN REGISTER BOOKS BY PAULA VOGEL AVAILABLE FROM TCG The Baltimore Waltz and Other Plays INCLUDES: The Baltimore WaltzAnd Baby Makes SevenDesdemonaHot N ThrobbingThe Oldest ProfessionA Civil War Christmas: An American Musical CelebrationHow I Learned to DriveIndecentThe Long Christmas Ride HomeThe Mammary Plays INCLUDES: How I Learned to DriveThe Mineola TwinsIndecent is copyright 2017 by Paula Vogel Indecent is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 520 Eighth Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156 All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights, including but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved.

Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the authors representative: Jonathan Lomma, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, 11 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10010, (212) 903-1552. Bei Mir Bist Du Schon (Means That Youre Grand): Original Lyrics by Jacob Jacobs, Music by Sholom Secunda. English Version by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin. Copyright 1937 (Renewed) WB Music Corp. and Cahn Music Co. All Rights Reserved.

Used by Permission of Alfred Music. Wiegala by Ilse Weber. Copyright 2002 by Boosey & Hawkes Bote & Bock GMBH, Berlin. The publication of Indecent by Paula Vogel, through TCGs Book Program, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Special thanks to Paula Marie Black for her generous support of this publication. TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.

Library of Congress Control Numbers: 2017010828 (print) / 2017014472 (ebook) ISBN 978-1-55936-868-1 (ebook) A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Book design and composition by Lisa Govan Cover design by Monet Cogbill Cover photograph: Adina Verson (left) and Katrina Lenk from the Vineyard Theatre production of Indecent. Photograph copyright 2017 by Carol Rosegg. First Edition, November 2017 Table of Contents

It left an indelible impression on my twenty-two-year-old mind, and I would never again make assumptions that the gender of the writer determined the empathic understanding of gender. And when my brother gave me, as his last gift, the book We Can Always Call Them Bulgarians, I read about the trial. And promptly filed away the incident until I read about a young director in graduate school who staged the obscenity trial as her thesis: The People vs. The God of Vengeance in 2000. Who is this woman? I began to track her work. And every play she directed was stunning.

I hoped I would work with her. Then, the phone call. Would I be interested in writing a play about the trial, Rebecca asked. She had realized that she could not work out her obsession by using found materials; she would need a writer. I had briefly dallied with writing a play about the trial of The Well of Loneliness, and Mae Wests The Drag. But perhaps it was the inspiration to me that this brilliant woman had held on to this story, which suddenly gave me a vision.

This is how, for me, plays happen. I see an image that ends up being the turning point: a woman adjusts her car mirror. A doctor takes off his latex gloves under fluorescent hospital lights, or: A dusty troupe of actors hastily assemble a performance of The God of Vengeance with improvised props and suitcases and trunks in an attic. I asked the other voice on the line: I think its larger than the obscenity trial. And Rebecca gave me an enthusiastic: Yes, yes! You should make it what you want! And from that call followed perhaps the most extended and intimate collaboration of my life. She unearthed a box of materials from her thesis: the entire trial transcript, letters from the producer Harry Weinberger, her thesis itself.

And then I read. We went to MacDowell together, and she typed from dictation in the cabin we shared; every day we would stop and Rebecca would play the roles and read the pages. And we would discuss every page. We emerged with the first draft in two weeks. A not very good first draft, but still, the block of marble I could carve to find the marble elephant within. Workshops.

A week at her parents house, Ettie and Lazer Taichman, where I consumed more books from her parents shelves. A week at my house in Rhode Island, a week at the Cape. Three weeks at Sundance Theatre Lab. A reading here, another workshop there... Only with the generosity of multiple not-for-profits: Sundance, Yale Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse (and her initial commission from Oregon Shakespeare Festival joined my commission at Yale) could we put together a troupe to make it happen. Ultimately, I discarded the obscenity trial from the play.