Rivka Borek (left) and Malka Wallick (right). Pre-production photos by Jessica Palopoli for ‘Indecent’ at San Francisco Playhouse.

San Francisco Playhouse Opens New Season With “Indecent”

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) announced casting for Indecent by Paula Vogel, the first production in the Playhouse’s 20th Anniversary Season.

The play will run on the San Francisco Playhouse Mainstage from September 22 through November 5, 2022.

Susi Damilano will direct, with music direction by Dmitri Gaskin and choreography by Nicole Helfer. The production marks the Bay Area Premiere of the critically acclaimed work, which was nominated for three Tony Awards including Best Play in 2017.

Indecent is based on the real-life events surrounding the scandalous Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s ‘The God of Vengeance,’ considered to be a seminal work of Yiddish theatre by some, and a piece of traitorous libel by others. With a klezmer-infused score and filled with joyous songs and dances, this play charts the history of that incendiary work, the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it, and the evolving identity of the culturally rich community that inspired its creation.

“There are few voices in American theatre like Paula Vogel’s,” said Bill English, San Francisco Playhouse’s Artistic Director. “Her Indecent is not only a true story about a time when art, freedom, and truth were on trial, but also an exuberant love letter to the theatre. We are honored to be presenting this play’s Bay Area premiere along with our great friends at Yiddish Theatre Ensemble.”