44 | APRIL 20 • 2023
P
opularity is no guarantee
against censure. A play can
attract enthusiastic audiences
but still be condemned for how it
depicts same-sex relations,
say, or allegedly harms
a marginalized group.
And outrage sometimes
leads to canceling, not
just of performances, but
of sponsors and artistic
creators. Sometimes the
actors are even hauled off
to jail.
Until that last sentence you probably
anticipated a reflection on what is today
often termed our “cancel culture.” In
fact, the scenario I posed transpired
exactly 100 years ago, when the cast
and producer of Sholem Asch’s The
God of Vengeance were arrested after
a Broadway performance on the
night of March 6, 1923. Originally
written in Yiddish and staged to great
acclaim across Europe, the translated
play had been successfully offered to
the Greenwich Village crowd at the
Provincetown Theatre. But the move
uptown put a bright target on Asch’s
three-act drama.
This act of censorship in 1923 is at
the heart of Paula Vogel’s 2017 play
Indecent, an amazing meditation not
only on Asch and the fate of his work,
but on the power of theater, the glory
that once was Yiddish language and
culture, and the capacity for love even
amidst the most degrading and difficult
circumstances. The performances this
month by Jewish Theatre Grand Rapids
are not to be missed, as Indecent is the
kind of drama that proves how essential
it is to be among others when watching
such art unfold. Combing elements of
music, drama and dance, Indecent may
be Jewish Theatre’s most ambitious —
and anticipated — production.
It also seems to me the kind of
play JTGR’s founders of 35 years ago
would have hoped to bring before west
Michigan audiences.
THE DRAMATIZATION OF VICE
So, what provoked the New York vice
squad to appear at the theater and
determine that the performance had
broken the law? On the surface, the
ARTS&LIFE
THEATER
Paula Vogel’s 2017 play Indecent to be
performed by Jewish Theatre Grand Rapids.
Sex, Love
and Yiddishkeit
Rob
Franciosi
Special to the
Jewish News
Yale Repertory
Production
2015