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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. For every scene kept in Indecent, how many were thrown out?

2. What is the line that Madje says that is later used in the play and is read later on in this section in the salon reading?

3. Vogel says she wrote the scenes, and Taichman made them come alive. Which scenes does she specifically mention?

4. What is Madje's first response to Sholem's play?

5. How did Vogel finish up her days?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. When had Paula Vogel first heard about Rebecca Taichman?

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

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

7. What does Vogel say she did when other projects came along?

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

9. What was Paula Vogel‘s reaction when she first read The God of Vengeance while at Cornell University?

10. How is Madje’s line, “Teach me. Take me. I want to taste you” significant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sholem refuses, at the end of the play, to grant John Rosen’s request. What is his request? Why does Sholem deny him? What does this reveal about Sholem? How does Rosen respond to Sholem’s denial? What does this reveal about him? How might this also be a reflection of young Sholem vs old Sholem?

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

Dorothee admits to Reina that she would not have minded being jailed for a show she believed in. How does Dorothee feel about the Broadway production of The God of Vengeance? Why does she feel that way? If the play had been left as it was written, would there have been a different outcome regarding the obscenity trial? Why or why not? Should the play have been altered so drastically? Why or why not?

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