Indecent (TCG Edition)

Paula Vogel

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781559365475
• eBook ISBN: 9781559368681
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

“Revelatory…As intimate and immediate as a whispered secret. Vogel’s play thrums with music, desire, and fear, and it’s shrewd about the ways in which America isn’t free, and about how art does and doesn’t transcend the perilous winds of history.” —New Yorker

“Superbly realized…Indecent, the powerful play by Paula Vogel, sheds an eye-opening light on a little-known time when theatrical history, Jewish culture, and the frank depiction of homosexuality intersected, with explosive results.” —New York Times

“Gorgeous. Illuminating and heartbreaking. Rich in sympathy and humor, Indecent has the scope of an epic but the intimacy of a chamber piece…It celebrates and illustrates the power of theater.” —Time Out New York

“A moving and fascinating play…A singular achievement… The historical perspective is vast and knowing…Has there ever been anything quite like Indecent, a play that touches—I mean deeply touches—so much rich emotion about history and the theater, anti-Semitism, homophobia, censorship, world wars, red-baiting, and oh, yes, joyful human passion?...An extraordinary play.” —Newsday

“Indecent is more than a play about forbidden love: It’s about theater as a life force.” —New York Post

When Sholem Asch wrote God of Vengeance in 1907, he didn’t imagine the height of controversy the play would eventually reach. Performing at first in Yiddish and German, the play’s subject matter wasn’t deemed contentious until it was produced in English, when the American audiences were scandalized by the onstage depiction of an amorous affair between two women. Paula Vogel’s newest work traces the trajectory of the show’s success through its tour in Europe to its abrupt and explosive demise on Broadway in 1923—including the arrest of the entire production’s cast and crew.

Paula Vogel is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of How I Learned to Drive. Her other plays include Don Juan Comes Home from Iraq, A Civil War Christmas, The Long Christmas Ride Home, and The Baltimore Waltz, among others. She has also had a distinguished career as a teacher and mentor to younger playwrights, first at Brown University and then at the Yale School of Drama.

INDECENT: THE TRUE STORY OF A LITTLE JEWISH PLAY

Lights up. Soft, muffled music.

Slowly, in a dim light, a body stirs onstage. The light grows; we see a dusty figure in an old suit. He stretches limbs that haven’t moved in decades. He lifts one arm; sawdust pours from his sleeve. He lifts the other arm; more sawdust. He shakes his legs vigorously; more outpouring of sawdust.

FROM ASHES THEY RISE

The troupe rises and shakes off their dust.

Lemml steps on the platform.

LEMML INTRODUCES THE TROUPE

LEMML: Ladies and gentlemen. Our actors who play many, many, roles tonight! First, the founding members of our troupe. Vera Parnicki and Otto Godowsky. They play all of the fathers, all of the mothers, the sagest of our characters, or the ones who remain fools at any age.

(The man and woman acknowledge the audience.)

And our members of the troupe who are in their prime! Halina Cygansky and Mendel Schultz! They play all of the vamps and all of the vice, the scarred, and the schemers.

And our ingenues! Chana Mandelbaum and Avram Zederbaum. All the brides, all the grooms, the writers, the socialists. So ardent in their beliefs, so passionate in their lovemaking.

On violin: Nelly Friedman! (She steps forward)

On clarinet: Mayer Balsam! (He does the same)

And on accordion: Moriz Godowsky. (He gives a wave)

My name is Lemml; you can also call me Lou. I’m the stage manager tonight—usually you can find me backstage. We have a story we want to tell you . . . About a play. A play that changed my life. Every night we tell this story—but somehow I can never remember the end. (He indicates his mind is failing. He turns to the others for help. No one can) No matter. I can remember how it begins. It all starts with this moment—remember this:

(Lemml gestures to two women of the troupe, holding each other, and then the troupe explodes in a joyous klezmer song and dance.)

“ALE BRIDER”

(The cast sings “Ale Brider”:)

CAST:

Oy yoy yoy yoy de yoy . . .

OTTO, MENDEL AND AVRAM:

Un mir zaynen ale brider,
oy, oy ale brider	(We are all brothers
Un mit zingen freylekhe lider,
oy oy oy.	We sing happy songs.)

VERA, HALINA AND CHANA:

Un mir haltn zikh in eynem,
oy oy zikh in eynem	(We stick together
Azelkes iz nito bay keynem,
oy oy oy!	Like nobody does!)

CAST:

Oy yoy yoy yoy de yoy . . .

(Band solo.)

Oy yoy yoy yoy de yoy . . .

(Members of the troupe form a bed from suitcases and planks. A young woman gets into the bed and waits. The troupe now brings a young man to the bed to join his young bride. Lemml takes a script from a suitcase and puts it in the bride’s hands. The troupe gathers around the bed and watches the young woman read.)

1906, WARSAW: MADJE ASCH READS

THE GOD OF VENGEANCE IN BED WITH SHOLEM ASCH

Sholem Asch, a twenty-three-year-old playwright, waits as his wife reads the last page of The God of Vengeance.

IN YIDDISH:

MADJE: OH!! (Reads a little further)

ASCH: Oh???

MADJE: Ohhh . . .

ASCH: Ohhh as in it’s awful??? Oh as in how do I tell him? Oh as in whom did I marry?

(Madje reads. End of play.

Madje puts the manuscript down on her breasts. She closes her eyes. She opens her eyes. She inhales. She weeps.)

MADJE: Ohhh!

ASCH: Are you crying?

MADJE: I can’t breathe.

Oh as in it’s wonderful. It’s so sad. I love it.

ASCH: Really?

MADJE: Really.

ASCH: What did you love?

MADJE: My God, Sholem. It’s all in there. The roots of all evil: the money, the subjugation of women, the false piety . . . the terrifying violence of that father . . . and then, oh Sholem, the two girls in the rain scene! My God, the poetry in it—what is it about your writing that makes me hold my breath? You make me feel the desire be...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Production History
• Characters
• Indecent
• About the Author