Nashville Rep's Indecent
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel once said, “I think art is our spiritual bread that we break together.” And that’s exactly what artistic director Micah-Shane Brewer is hoping for as Nashville Repertory Theatre prepares to open Vogel’s compelling work Indecent on Feb. 2.
“I first saw Indecent on Broadway in 2017,” Brewer says. “I knew very little about the story going in, but by the end, I was absolutely speechless. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It’s such a love letter to the theater, but there’s so much more to it than that. It looks at antisemitism and censorship, the sacrifices that artists must make, the telling of gay stories and being able to love who you love. It really packs a lot into just 95 minutes. But the storytelling, the music and imagery all blend together so beautifully, creating an incredibly moving piece of theater.”
Inspired by actual events, Indecent chronicles the 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance — a controversial work that featured, among other things, a love story between two women. One of the first plays by a Jewish playwright to be presented on Broadway, the piece was by turns celebrated and reviled. But soon after its historic premiere, the play was shut down and the cast was arrested on charges of obscenity.
“What’s interesting to me is that Asch’s play was performed so successfully all over Europe and then moved to the Lower East Side in New York, where it was performed in Yiddish,” Brewer says. “It wasn’t until it moved to Broadway, where it received its English translation, that everyone went crazy. It’s a fascinating story, but also scary when you consider where we are as a society today. The fact is that we’re still dealing with a lot of the same issues 100 years later.”
Beyond Indecent’s exploration of timely themes, however, Brewer says the work offers a marvelous tribute to the resilience of artists and the power of theater itself. With that in mind, he has assembled a great cast of new and familiar talent — including Thomas DeMarcus, Delaney Amatrudo, Dustin Davis, Sarah Aili, Galen Fott, Rona Carter and Garris Wimmer. The cast also features a trio of klezmer musicians, with Trevor Targowski on clarinet, Laurie Canaan on violin and Eric Sorrels on accordion.
“It’s a rich, complicated show, but there’s so much hope and joy to be found, as well,” he says.
“And this cast is simply amazing. From our very first rehearsal, there has been such a sense of energy and excitement. I hope audiences will feel that energy. I hope they’ll be as moved by Indecent as we are, and that it inspires them to stand up against the censors and those who would silence other voices.
“In these times of uncertainty, it’s important to come together to share these kinds of stories,” he adds. “That’s the ‘spiritual bread’ that Paula Vogel talks about. That’s the power of art, and that’s what this show is all about.”
Other upcoming performances:
Nashville Opera’s Florencia en el Amazonas, Jan. 26-28 at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater
The world premiere of The Gingerbread Kid, Jan. 27-Feb. 25 at Nashville Children’s Theatre
Shamel Pitts/Tribe’s BLACK HOLE: Trilogy and Triathlon, Feb. 2-3 at OZ Arts
Nashville Ballet’s Attitude, Feb. 9-11 at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater
Mazelfreten’s Rave Lucid, Feb. 29-March 2 at OZ Arts
Jagged Little Pill, March 1-2 at TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Hall
Street Theatre Company's The Trail to Oregon!, March 8-23 at The Barbershop Theater
A look at the state of Nashville’s visual arts scene, along with previews of coming art, theater, dance, film and book events
