About This Show

Written in 1926 Mae West wrote, directed, starred in, and even went to prison for her play, SEX! The work interrogated age-old questions regarding the role of social class in American culture, gender/sexuality & prostitution. West played Margy LaMont, an experienced & ambitious prostitute from Montreal. During it’s run, a grand jury deemed the play ‘‘wicked, lewd, scandalous, bawdy, obscene, indecent, infamous, immoral, and impure.’’ The contentious nature of the play drew large audiences, but ultimately, also sent West to an eight day incarceration in Welfare Island. To our knowledge, the play hasn’t been revived since. This contemporary restaging illuminates the often erased, but longstanding, resistance of sex workers in their pursuit of speaking, writing & performing their truths.