Gross Indecency

Oscar Wilde on Trial ... Three Times

In April 1895 Oscar Wilde brought a libel suit against the Marquess of Queensbury, the father of his youthful lover, who had publicly maligned him as a sodomite. In doing so, England's reigning man of letters set in motion a series of events that would culminate in his ruin and imprisonment. For within a year the bewildered Wilde himself was on trial for acts of "gross indecency" and -- implicitly -- for a vision of art that outraged Victorian propriety.

In this stunning work of the theatre -- a smash hit Off-Broadway -- Moisés Kaufman turned the trials of Oscar Wilde into a riveting human drama. Expertly interweaving courtroom testimony with excerpts from Wilde's writings and the words of his contemporaries, Gross Indecency unveiled its subject in all his genius and human frailty, his age in all its complacency and repression. The result is a play that will be performed for decades to come.

Guest director Julie Hartley and an acting company of UW Drama students explored the historical record at the same time that they revealed one of the first examples of how the media, by imposing itself on current events, succeeds in establishing a cult of celebrity hysteria and personal invasion.

Picture of the stage for Gross Indecency with two faces being shown on screens
Group of people holding pieces of paper above a man in the center
Two people about to kiss on a couch
Two people sitting and talking to each other with the rest of the cast looking on in the background
Group of people lying with each other
Man behind a podium speaking to another man while a woman sits and looks on
Picture of the stage for Gross Indecency with two faces being shown on screens
Group of people holding pieces of paper above a man in the center
Two people about to kiss on a couch
Two people sitting and talking to each other with the rest of the cast looking on in the background
Group of people lying with each other
Man behind a podium speaking to another man while a woman sits and looks on
Two people sitting and talking to each other with the rest of the cast looking on in the background
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Group of people lying with each other
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Man behind a podium speaking to another man while a woman sits and looks on
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Picture of the stage for Gross Indecency with two faces being shown on screens
4 / 6
Group of people holding pieces of paper above a man in the center
5 / 6
Two people about to kiss on a couch
6 / 6

Winter 2003 Production

By Moises Kaufman, with Afterward by Tony Kushner

Directed by: Julie Hartley

Performances: March 26-29, 2003

Venue: Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages Building

Cast

Narrator 3, Harris, Public - Lindsey Alston

Press, Boxer, Queen Victoria, Auctioneer, Lockwood, Alfred Taylor - Nicholas Cumming

Bosie - Jeff deSchiffert

Judge - David Devine

Press, Parker - Nathaniel Gibbs

Clarke - Julia Harries

Oscar Wilde - Brett Haynes

Public, Wright, Atkins, Narrator 6 - Andrew Hryniewicz

Queensbury, Public - Jonathan Hubble

Narrator 2, Public, Willie - Allison Jowett

Narrator 2, Public, Landlord - Amie MacDonald

Narrator 1, Shaw, Foreman of the Jury, Hotel man, Public - Murina Murphy

Public, Clerk of Arraigns, Gill, Narrator 7 - Jess O’Connor

Public, Sgt. Richards, Wood - Jonathan Orton

Press, Kaufman, Narrator 5 - Amanda Rees

Carson, Public - Jennifer Scullion

Public, Constance, Prostitute, Narrator 8, Taylor, Sepranza - Lesley Tumber

Public, Sgt. Allan, Mavor - Dave Zoltok

Crew

Director – Julie Hartley

Set Designer – Meredith Kenzie

Lighting Designer – Scott Spidell

Costume Designer – Stephanie Coleman

Sound Designer – Greg More

Production Crew

Stage Manager – Meghan Wiggin

Assistant Stage Managers – Ariel Bourbonnais, Christina Romasz, Laura Thomas

Production Director – Bill Chesney

Production Manager – Scott Banks

Technical Director – Scott Spidell

Assistant Technical Director – Fraser Smith

Publicity – Joyce Hahn

Publicity Assistant – Erika Kottelenberg

Publicity Crew/Front of House – Dana Fernald, Robyn Joffe

Poster & Program Design – Yen Chu Design

Program – DRAMA 301 Class

Lighting Head – Jen Cook

Lighting Crew – Samantha Leask, Amanda Rees

Carpentry Head – Heather Bedard

Carpentry Crew – Tegan Cassidy, Denise Hill, Jessica Jones, Eloisa Laquiran

Props Head – Janine Auger

Scenic Paint Head – Krystina Labadie

Props Crew & Scenic Paint – Lori Anderson, Travis Hatt, Julia Schuessler

Sound Crew – Diana Knoll

Wardrobe Head of Crew– Miranda Warner

Wardrobe Crew – Lindsey Alston, Amaranth Day, Jessica O’Connor

Head of Wardrobe – Jocelyne Sobeski

Video – Rasheed Ali

Additional Crew – David Devine, Celeste Dickson, Monika Chmiel.

Thank you:

Jane Macleod

IDG (Interactive Design Group)

Home Fashion Market

University of Waterloo Theatre Centre

Steve Eason

Clifford Snyder