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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When was The God of Vengeance written?

2. Vogel had read The God of Vengeance while a student at what university?

3. When Mrs. Peretz enters, for what is the excitement in the house not good?

4. Who co-commissioned Indecent?

5. What did Vogel do when other projects came along, whiles she was working on Indecent?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the director stage the opening scene to show that the troupe is dead?

2. When and why was The God of Vengeance put on trial?

3. How does the playwright early on show why the play is titled Indecent?

4. Did Vogel end up including the trial in the play? Why or why not?

5. Why are many of the men upset and horrified by what Yekel does with the Torah scroll?

6. How do Madje and Sholem respond differently to the future of Sholem’s play in the beginning of the play?

7. What important resources beyond the original play, trial information, and Taichman’s thesis was used to inspire Vogel?

8. Why had Rebecca Taichman reached out to Paula Vogel?

9. Why might it be important that Nakhmen state that his nephew, Lemml, has never seen a play?

10. Sholem compares himself to one of the prostitutes in his play. When and why does he do this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout much of the play the same sections of The God of Vengeance is performed. Why might the playwright choose to repeat the dialogue? How does this repetition affect the reader or audience member? Does the reader’s or audience member’s attitude towards the characters or the play stay the same or change as the play Indecent unfolds? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Language is an important aspect of this play. How does the use of and switch from one language to another reflect changes in culture and tradition of the Jewish people? What other aspects of culture and tradition are changed when the language of the play switches from Yiddish to English? How might this reflect the attitude at the time towards religious Jews? How might this also make a reality the anti-Semitism that was feared by the men in Mr. Peretz‘s salon?

Essay Topic 3

Both Yiddish and English are spoken or used as subtitles throughout the play. How does this add to the play and the culture of the characters? How does the use of Yiddish from the very beginning of the play help to set the scene? The playwright describes the use of dialects to distinguish the understanding of English from one character to another. Do you find this to be a creative and useful way to show this distinction? Why or why not? Why might the playwright have decided to put so much focus on language in this play?

(see the answer keys)

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