Paula Vogel Issues Statement on INDECENT Cancellation at Florida High School

As previously reported, a student production of Paula Vogel's acclaimed, Tony-nominated play INDECENT, was abruptly canceled by the administration of a public arts high school in Duval County, Florida last week. The Duval County Public Schools cited what it described as "adult sexual dialogue" in the play's portrayal of a same-sex love story as the reason for the cancellation of the production at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.

Ms. Vogel's response to the action - and in full support of the students who are spearheading their own protest on social media of the shut down - is stated below. The news, in fact, broke on social media when it was posted by the students in Florida. The students had previously received approval from their parents to participate in INDECENT.

STATEMENT FROM Paula Vogel:

"I am saddened to learn that the Duval School Board has censored the Douglas Anderson School of Performing Arts production of my play INDECENT.

The play was written as an homage to Sholem Asch's play GOD OF VENGEANCE, written in 1906, which was a big success all over Europe. Presented in Yiddish, both Jewish and Gentile audiences in Berlin, Poland, Russia, England and Eastern Europe flocked to the play.

Asch's play documents the violence against women, the antisemitism of the time, and respectfully depicts two young women who fall in love. The depiction of love in 1906 between two women was tastefully done and hailed as "pure" by Yiddish writers of the time.

It became a standard in the repertory of Yiddish theatres.

Only in 1923 on Broadway in an English production were the vice cops called in to arrest the cast; the play was deemed obscene. Using the lesbian characters as a pretext, the Broadway Production was shuttered due to the rising antisemitism in the 1920's: an American fascism

Bloomed with deadly consequence against Jews, immigrants, endorsed by Father Coughlin, Henry Ford, some politicians, other American Nazi's and the KKK.

As a playwright who wrote a play about how censorship is a first step toward genocide, I am puzzled about the school board's decision. There is nothing prurient about Indecent. I use parts of Sholem Asch's original text for the two girls. For the past 40 years, I receive requests from high schools to change language in my plays, and to restage the scenes, ignoring my stage directions. And I readily give my permission. There have been high school productions of INDECENT where the student actors hold hands. The Victorian translation is demure, and one can amend my updated translation with permission.

But it is as an educator that I am angry and appalled. Why hurt the students who are aiming to become theatre makers? Instead of letting them discover the issues of antisemitism, intolerance, censorship and the Holocaust the school board is censoring them.

Disempowering young artists at this crucial age borders, to me, on an obscene act.

I hope the School Board reconsiders their action, which may come from a lack of knowledge about theatrical process and the two plays: INDECENT and GOD OF VENGEANCE. I would like to participate in a respectful conversation with the school board.

Our most important duty as educators is to support young students in their most important creation: the creation of who they are, and the life-long creation of who they will become.

The tools of dialogue, belief in themselves, reading, performance and forging community are the primary goals of education in the arts.

As a Jewish woman who suffered homophobia and antisemitism as a teenager, I want to tell every member of the cast at Douglas Anderson that you are in a larger community, the community of theatre artists, who love who you are, and who you will become. We value the art you will make in years to come, whether in Florida or in the larger world. I am so proud of your courage and your honesty. Great art, and great lives, are made of that. As Lin-Manuel Miranda of HAMILTON said: "Love is love is love." Dear school board: please love your students." - Paula Vogel

INDECENT - which has enjoyed great success in productions across the U.S. and in London, as well as its celebrated run on Broadway, where it played to sold-out audiences and was extended various times in 2017 - is Ms. Vogel's searing work about the real-life censorship that ensued in 1923 when the legendary Yiddish writer Sholem Asch's play GOD OF VENGEANCE was shuttered on Broadway for its depiction of two young women who fell in love. At that time, the production's cast and producer were arrested and convicted on obscenity charges. Prior to its debut in the U.S., GOD OF VENGEANCE was one of the most popular plays performed throughout Europe. Ms. Vogel's own play expands on Asch's tale of antisemitism, misogyny, and censorship during that period in world history.

Ms. Vogel is the author of numerous plays including HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (Pulitzer Prize), BALTIMORE WALTZ, THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME and CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS.