Dramaturgical Packet for Gross Indecency:
The Trials of Oscar Wilde

Content warning: Mentions of pedophilia and sexual predation

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     I present my dramaturgical packet on Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde. The people in this play are endlessly fascinating to me. Since they are real historical figures, Kaufman can only express their nuances so much. I wanted to bring them to life. The research that I’ve done for this project involved annotating my massive copy of The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde cover-to-cover, sifting through mountains of letters, diary entries, and court transcripts, and reckoning with my own perceptions and assumptions of who Wilde really was.

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     I wanted to create a deeper understanding of the context before and after the events of this play. I’d argue that the effects of the trials and the events leading up to them were even more interesting than the trials themselves. The trials of Oscar Wilde came at a critical point - he seems to argue, how far have we come in art, in politics, in relationships? How far do we have yet to go? Today, I still wonder the same thing.

     The Storyteller Studio provided me with a place where I could truly dive into the world of dramaturgy and playwriting. I had never been so deep in the artistic process before. Having a place where each cohort member was equally dedicated to the art we were all trying to produce was such a nurturing environment for a new dramaturg like me. Heck, Oscar Wilde himself loved to workshop his latest pursuits with other artists.

I think he may have been onto something.