Dirty Books
Written & Directed by Mara Lieberman
Bated Breath Theater | 39 W 14th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10011
November 7th - December 21st, 2025
Photos by Bjorn Bolinder
Growing up in the Boston Area, it was a treat to go into “Town” on our own, but we were warned to stay far from the “Combat Zone”. This section of the city was not safe if the name was to be believed. Littered with peeps shows, strip clubs and the most dreaded adult book stores, you should never ever travel near at night, and only swiftly passing through during the day. In hindsight, in our digital age, adult bookstores feel pretty tame. Prurient texts were more than risque, in our not so distant pass, they were illegal.
Dirty Books is an immersive performance that plunges audiences into the heated battles over anti-obscenity laws and censorship in America, inspired by the true stories of erotic fiction writers of the 1960’s and using actual Supreme Court transcripts, Upon entering you are given a ticket to the exhibit which you should peruse before finding your seat. (During my tour of the space I quickly realized I no longer have a working knowledge of how to type on a typewriter!) Each area is thoughtfully curated, and will become an important part of the performance to follow. The design here is quite smart, converting an office into the playing space. Transforming a reception desk into the writers’ workspace, a closet into an exhibit, and another closet into the boudoir was absolutely genius. Whatever work took place in this space in its previous incarnation could be nowhere near as clever.
The play and the US Government’s involvement with dirty books all begins with a Connecticut man who was 19 when he enlisted to fight in the Civil War. While people’s wants and desires haven’t changed all that much in the last 160 years, our views of morality have changed wildly. But the Comstock Act is still alive and well and being talked about as a way to prevent the shipping of abortion medications across state lines, just as it was once used to arrest Margaret Sanger in 1915 for using the US Postal Service to distribute literature on birth control. So concerned was the US Government with the morality of the American people, that the First Amendment could not protect you if your dirty books were mailed via USPS.
In this quirky, Brechtian performance, the audience plays a vital role. You will be on the edge of your seat with anticipation as they could call on you at any time to participate in the action. The writers / husbands are deftly portrayed by Sammy Rivas and Grayson Willenbacher, while their wives / true literary geniuses are brought to life by Alexis Pratt and Melina Rabin. Our Tour Guide / Master of Ceremonies / Postal Inspector, Maris Moureau is the Virgil to our Dante. This tight ensemble keeps the pace and the audience moving toward climax (of the dramatic action). Moving and intimate, Dirty Books is positively riveting. You cannot help but enjoy the experience. And, you will learn a little something on top of it all. Edutainment hidden within the covers of Dirty Books.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on November 17, 2025 All rights reserved.