Yale Repertory Theater is currently presenting the world premiere of the play "Indecent."
It's a play about a play that was actually written in 1907 by a young Jewish writer named Sholem Asch. It tells the story of a Jewish father who runs a brothel with prostitutes downstairs in the basement of his home, while determined, at the same time, to raise an innocent and pure daughter upstairs.
The hitch? His daughter falls in love with one of the working girls in the basement.
"Indecent" explores the life of this play and the transformative power of art. It's written by Paula Vogel who was a guest on WNPR's The Colin McEnroe Show.
"This play toured all through Europe," said Vogel. "It was controversial. It was contentious. And the Jewish community attended, and there was a lot of discussion of -- do we show our own dirty laundry, that there are Jewish people involved in the sex trade? Do we show that to outsiders at a time of anti-Semitism?"
Audiences flocked to see the play in London, Moscow, and the lower East Side of New York. It was performed at the time in Yiddish. But in the 1920s, it was translated into English and brought to Broadway.
"This little play that traveled all over the world became the center of a legal storm over obscenity because it featured the kiss between two women – the first kiss -- on the Broadway stage," Vogel said.
The cast and producer were arrested in 1923 and tried on obscenity charges. In more recent times, Paula Vogel says she, too, has had her own theatrical works shut down and censored. But she says taking on uncomfortable topics has always been part of the purpose of theater.
"And so, one of the things I want to make sure is that we as a community do not shy away from the issues that make us uncomfortable. If we shy away, they become issues that divide us."
"Indecent" is performed by a cast of seven actors and three on-stage musicians. It runs at Yale Rep in New Haven through Saturday, October 24.
