INDECENT is the new play from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel inspired by the true story of the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance. Called "superbly realized and remarkably powerful" by the New York Times and hailed as one of the best plays of the year by critics, Indecent charts the journey of an incendiary drama and the artists who risked their lives to perform it. Created by Vogel and director Rebecca Taichman and set at a time when waves of immigrants were changing the face of America, this play with music is a riveting look at an explosive moment in theatrical history and comes to Broadway from its critically acclaimed, sold-out run at the Vineyard Theatre.
The play, for Vogel and Taichman who created it together, is an interrogation of the many definitions and interpretations of 'indecency'...Indecent can feel a little cluttered in its staging. Actors scurry this way and that. It is not always clear who is who, and who is speaking. Yiddish when spoken and sung has a translation projected on to the back wall. This uneven structure and pace can feel a little like casting an eye over a dense thesis with too many footnotes. But Indecent's roving eye, its busy-ness, its insistence to be about everything-homophobia, censorship, freedom of expression, tyranny-is as fascinating and genuine as it can be frustrating to watch.
Vogel and co-creator Rebecca Taichman make the journey from there to the mid-20th century vividly theatrical and overtly political, suggesting other artists from that period - Bertolt Brecht, especially - while appealing to a world famished, once again, for tolerance and compassion...The larger focus of Indecent, and it couldn't be a timelier one, is the plight of the outsider or other, of anyone whose identity can be twisted into an easy target under tough circumstances...In our own troubled century, there's at least some encouragement to be found there. A-
2016 | Off-Broadway |
New York Off-Broadway Premiere Off-Broadway |
2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2021 | West End |
Menier Chocolate Factory's West End Premiere Production West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play | Christopher Akerlind |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Paula Vogel |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Indecent |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Rebecca Taichman |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Richard Topol |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Katrina Lenk |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Christopher Akerlind |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Indecent |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Tal Yarden |
2017 | Theatre World Awards | Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater | Katrina Lenk |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Rebecca Taichman |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Christopher Akerlind |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Paula Vogel |
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