Theatre UCF tackles ‘Indecent’
Paula Vogel’s story to be presented on Main Stage Theatre at end of January
Rehearsals are underway for Theatre UCF’s production of “Indecent” by Paula Vogel, a story based on the actual events surrounding the controversial play “God of Vengeance” by Sholem Asch.
Although it toured Europe with much critical acclaim, when “God of Vengeance” transferred to Broadway in 1923, the producer and cast members were arrested and convicted of obscenity for showing love between two women on stage.
Vogel’s telling of these events aims to spotlight the individuals who risked everything, including their careers and lives, to reveal the truths behind the drama.
Now, Theatre UCF will present the piece on the Main Stage Theatre Jan. 27-Feb. 6 as part of their 2021-2022 season.
“This play is about theater,” said Julia Listengarten, artistic director at Theatre UCF. “It is about the power of art to re-envision what we know about the past in order to kind of move forward with perhaps a little more understanding and hope for a better future.”
Listengarten said there are many themes in the play, including purity of love between two women, Jewish culture, immigration and antisemitism.
“It’s so multilayered,” Listengarten said. “And it’s been particularly exciting and challenging to try to figure that out with the cast.”
Listengarten said she keeps reminding the performers that this play is a result of a collective creation. Before it opened on Broadway, “Indecent” was in the works for five years, going through a variety of different workshops.
“A lot of this play comes from the actors themselves and how they saw the story,” Listengarten said. “Or how they wanted to tell the story collectively.”
Now, it is her cast’s turn to make a collective creation.
“That is how I approach directing: very collaboratively,” Listengarten said. “I encourage the actors to bring their own ideas into the process.”
Giuseppe Pipicella, who plays Mendel in the production, said such a synergistic process does not happen often.
“We really all have a voice in the room about what to do,” Pipicella said. “And what I really love about Julia’s directing style is that we really talk in-depth before putting the scene on its feet, so that we all know what page we’re on.”
Forrest Stringfellow, who plays Avram, also spoke about Listengarten’s directing style.
“It’s definitely not a closed room or a one-sided conversation,” Stringfellow said. “She very much encourages us to speak up about what we think and what would be right for this moment.”
Pipicella said once students received official word that “Indecent” was going to be produced, everyone wanted to be in it.
The play, Stringfellow said, is one of the required readings for the mandatory theater studies course, which is why many people had already been exposed to it.
“It must have stuck with them,” Stringfellow said. “As it did with me.”
Listengarten said her love for Vogel, and a connection through her lineage, went into the decision to do the play.
“Culturally, I’m drawn to this piece because I come from Russia, which is part of that world,” Listengarten said.
Listengarten’s grandfather, who was Jewish, was born in 1906 when the staging of “God of Vengeance” was taking place in Warsaw, Poland.
“It’s not my story. I wasn’t born in 1906,” Listengarten said. “But I’m connected to the stories through the lives of my grandparents and through my own travel and immigration and coming to America.”
Listengarten said she is drawn to the notion of immigration, assimilation and travel, which is symbolized in the play with the use of a suitcase.
Pipicella, who immigrated to the United States from Italy, said doing the play means a lot to him for a specific reason.
“As a person who was raised in another country, specifically a European country, I get to see the differences between cultures and between the politics of these countries,” Pipicella said.
What is particularly interesting to him, he said, is how ‘God of Vengeance” was so successful in Europe, but then deemed indecent in a country like America, which is based upon freedom and liberty.
“What’s important for me in this play is holding the mirror up to American society about how hypocritical this country is,” Pipicella said.
Listengarten said her hope for the play is that it will be moving for the audience.
“To me, theater is not about messages,” Listengarten said. “Theater is about affecting people.”
And, because there are different messages, she expects it will affect people in different ways, whether that be learning about Jewish history, seeing a story about a love between two women or hearing other languages.
“It will affect people in different ways, depending on what is important for them,” Listengarten said. “It will be fascinating to connect through these themes.”
If you go
“Indecent” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27-29; 2 p.m. Jan. 30; 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3-5 and 2 p.m. Feb. 6 at the Main Stage Theatre on UCF’s main campus. Tickets are $25 or $10 with UCF ID.
This story is part of a partnership between the Orlando Sentinel and UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication and Media.