Surely, Paula Vogel had something weighing on her mind some years ago when writing The Oldest Profession, which is being presented as the inaugural entry in a Signature Theatre season devoted to her works. Vogel has proved herself a smart and engaged writer, never smarter or more engaged than when she plumbed the complexities of incest in the Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive. As that script indicates, she's interested in the obstacles that women face in trying to find a place in the world. She notices the survivor instinct that keeps a good woman going when so much isn't in her favor, societally and psychologically speaking.

The Oldest Profession features five hookers of a ce[...]