Sofi e Rose Seymour and Aimee Theresa in Players Club of Swarthmore’s
production of “Indecent”
“This play allows me to bring more of
my history, my family and myself than
any other work I have been a part of,”
they said. “It is so emotional to play
these Jewish and queer ancestors who
have been given the chance to step
out of the script and the ashes and the
closet of history, and to help them live
for a few hours more each night.”
“Indecent” begins in 1906 and
follows a series of theater troupes, all
led by stage manager Lemml, as they
perform “God of Vengeance” across
Europe, and later the United States,
during the early and mid-1900s.

In between performances over the
years, the troupes grapple with the
play’s complicated legacy and impact
on their lives: whether sex work should
be represented and spotlighted in
Jewish characters; the love story of
two women that exists on and off stage;
and the dangerous consequences of
performing the taboo play both in the
U.S. and in Nazi-occupied Europe.

The Players Club production of
“Indecent” features a cast of whom half
are Jewish and a production crew that
is almost entirely Jewish, according
to actor Jeff Barg, who is Jewish and
plays Lemml in the show.

“The whole process, I think, has been
emotional for us,” he said. “Because in
2023, there’s a lot of antisemitism in
politics and in popular culture, and
that makes a lot of lines in the show hit
harder than they otherwise might.”
On Jan. 5, Florida’s Duval County
Public Schools offi cials told performers
at Douglas Anderson School of the
Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, that they
could not continue with their produc-
tion of “Indecent,” JTA.org reported.

Last year, Florida Republican Gov. Ron
DeSantis signed into law the Parental
Rights in Education — or “Don’t Say
Gay” — Law.

The Players Club production of
“Indecent” will be performed to mostly
a non-Jewish audience and will rely
on universal themes to have the play’s
message hit home.

“The theater is willing to take on work
that is more challenging,” Barg said.

“No matter what background people
are coming to the show with, there’s
still a lot of joy in coming together and
performing.” Though the themes of lightness and
darkness and what it means to be
American or a minority can strike a
chord with most audience members
who walk through the theater’s doors,
the specifi cs of the play, personal to the
lives of a theater troupe’s Jewish cast
and crew, make “Indecent” a once-in-
a-lifetime experience for them.

“The way that Jewish tradition
encourages [us] to wrestle with our
angels,” Seymour said, “‘Indecent’
gives its characters a chance to wrestle
with what it means to be Jewish, what
it means to be queer, to be in love, to
be American, to face the horrors of
injustice, and throughout it all, how to
tell a story that allows us to be all that
and more.”
For more information about the
show, visit pcstheater.org/main-stage/
indecent. ■
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