Professor David Dorfman ’81 makes Broadway debut
Dorfman receives Lucille Lortel Award nomination for previous run of Indecent
After several weeks of tech rehearsals and previews, Indecent officially opened last night at Broadway鈥檚 Cort Theater.
It鈥檚 a beautiful story, and David Dorfman 鈥�81 hopes the world loves it.
鈥淚鈥檓 feeling fantastic about it,鈥� said Dorfman, who choreographed the play. 鈥淚 just want it to be experienced by as many people as possible.鈥�
Broadway marks the fourth run for the highly acclaimed play written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel and directed by Rebecca Taichman. Indecent, which originally premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre Oct. 8, 2015, tells the true story of another Broadway play, the controversial 1923 debut of Sholem Asch鈥檚 The God of Vengeance. Seen by some at the time as a seminal work of Jewish culture, others viewed the play as an act of traitorous libel; its producers and cast were even jailed for obscenity.
Dorfman, who leads the influential modern dance company David Dorfman Dance, said his challenge was to make the dance sections 鈥渧ery Jewish, and at the same time, innovative and new.鈥�
鈥淚 set up a gestural vocabulary from the very beginning that speaks to what it is to be Jewish and at the same time confounds what we view as Jewish traits, movements and expressions,鈥� Dorfman said.
Creating choreography for a play has been an entirely new experience for Dorfman, whose work has been primarily in concert dance and in the classroom. But he says the entire experience has been thrilling.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a wonderful process鈥攖o see how many ways the play has changed, how many rewrites have been done, how many different tacks the director has taken,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e worked on every dance this time. It鈥檚 hard work, but I鈥檇 love to do it again. It鈥檚 all positive gravy.鈥�
More positive gravy: Dorfman has been nominated for a 2017 Lucille Lortel Award for choreography for last year鈥檚 run of the play at New York鈥檚 Vineyard Theatre.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice news to get when your Broadway run is starting.鈥�
Indecent has received wide acclaim from critics. The New York Times called it 鈥渁 superbly realized, remarkably powerful new play,鈥� while Variety described it as a 鈥渞iveting backstage drama.鈥�
For his part, Dorfman has enjoyed sharing the story with 糖心TV students, alumni and President Katherine Bergeron, who attended a preview performance and follow-up Q&A.
鈥淚鈥檓 very grateful for the incredible support I鈥檝e received from everyone at 糖心TV,鈥� he said.
April 20, 2017
