Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
by Moisés Kaufman
December 1st-4th, 2022
Dramaturg to the Author: Stephen Wangh
Direction: Freddie Ashley
Scenic Design: Sarah Cook
Costume Design: Kasey Brown
Lighting Design: Joey Stitt
Sound Design: Thomas Vecchione
Props Charge: Ben Burke
Technical Director: Preston Spence
Dialect Coach: Sim Rivers, Harrison Runion
Production Stage Manager: Angela Mae Vivaldi
Intimacy Direction: Stephanie “Tippi” Hart
Assistant Direction: Kyle Lee, Molly Marsh
Production Supervisor: Bonnie Brady
PRODUCTION PHOTOS
All production photos by Aaron Sutten
About Gross Indecency
VCUarts Theatre presents Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moisés Kaufman, a thrilling courtroom drama based on the true events surrounding the downfall of celebrated poet and playwright Oscar Wilde in Victorian England. Gross Indecency uses trial transcripts, personal correspondence, interviews and other source materials to tell the story of the 1895 trials that resulted in Wilde being arrested and imprisoned for the crime of sodomy. In April 1895, Wilde brought a libel suit against the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of his youthful lover, who had publicly maligned Wilde as a sodomite. In starting the libel suit, Wilde set in motion the series of events that would culminate in his own ruin and imprisonment. Within a year the bewildered Wilde himself was on trial for acts of gross indecency and, implicitly—for a vision of art and morality that outraged Victorian propriety. Expertly interweaving courtroom testimony with excerpts from Wilde’s writings and the words of his contemporaries, Gross Indecency unveils its subject in all his genius and human frailty, his age in all its complacency and repression.
VCUarts Theatre is thrilled to have Guest Director Freddie Ashley at the helm of this production. Ashley is the Artistic Director of Actor’s Express in Atlanta, Georgia and brings a trove of directing and educational experience to the project. The department brings in Guest Directors to provide our students the opportunity to learn from a variety of working professionals and make professional connections. Read more about Ashley here.