Biographical Play About Oscar Wilde Blocked by Kremlin

The Tectonic Theater Project's plans to stage its LGBTQ-themed play "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde" in Moscow, with support from the United States government, have been blocked by the Kremlin. This action takes place amidst renewed tension between the two nations and at a time when the Kremlin is increasingly hostile toward the LGBTQ community, recently passing a federal law banning gay "propaganda." International rights groups have called the current situation in Russia the worst human rights climate in the post-Soviet era.

According the New York Times, "The Moscow New Drama Theater, a well-regarded company in Russia, had been planning to present the 1997 play, 'Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,' this fall, with a company of Russian actors directed by the play's writer, Mois�s Kaufman, who is the artistic director of the New York-based Tectonic Theater Project. But Mr. Kaufman said he had recently been informed by New Drama Theater that the Russian government had barred the Moscow company from accepting foreign funds for artistic productions, prompting indefinite postponement of the collaboration.

"Mr. Kaufman said he believed the real issue was the subject of the play, which is a dramatization of court transcripts from the 1895 prosecutions of Wilde, an Irish writer accused of sexual relationships with men."

According to Playbill, Tectonic Theater Project's "'Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde' similarly caused a stir in Kansas City, MO, when a church group protested a local production at Missouri Repertory Theatre in 2000. It was last seen Off-Broadway as part of Gayfest NYC in 2013."

"The opportunity to re-enact the Oscar Wilde trials in Moscow at this time would have been incredibly relevant," said Kaufman, "and also would have led to the kind of dialogue that is so sorely needed there at this time."

"We are naturally disappointed this project did not go forward," commented Mark Toner, U.S. State Department spokesperson.

In addition to "Gross Indecency," Tectonic Theater Project has been at the forefront of producing LGBTQ-themed theater for decades. Their work includes "The Laramie Project Cycle," the verbatim story of Matthew Shepherd's murder and its subsequent aftermath, which has been produced around the world and was made into an Emmy-nominated film for HBO in 2002.