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.
Of course, this brand of theater -- Broadway by way of a PBS documentary -- can be very tricky to pull off, not without drowning an audience in exposition...But Vogel...and director Rebecca Taichman have created a fast-moving yet lucid drama whose short scenes convey a tremendous amount of information and a surprising amount of feeling. The creators use a full array of theatrical tools...to lend a sense of poetry, spectacle and scale to what might otherwise have been a too-modest tale.
Thanks to Taichman's impressionistic direction and David Dorfman's stylized choreography, a troupe of long-slumbering Yiddish actors rise from the ashes and stiffly come to life to play their parts in this drama...This is not a linear production, so scenes in real time bleed into times past and future, and backstage scenes echo scenes within the play...We already know the outcome of their professional arguments. But such is the tension of the production, you want to stand up and warn this brave little troupe to catch that ship before it sails.
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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