Bated Breath Theatre Company Presents New Immersive Show About Anti-Obscenity Laws

Mara Lieberman (Voyeur: The Windows of Toulouse-Lautrec, Chasing Andy Warhol), the executive artistic director of Bated Breath Theatre Company, will present the world premiere of Dirty Books, a new play examining the complexities of censorship and book banning in the 1960s.

Written and directed by Lieberman, Dirty Books starts performances at Bated Breath Theater on November 7, ahead of an official opening on November 13.

Dirty Books is an immersive performance inspired by the true stories of erotic fiction writers of the 1960s and using Supreme Court-inspired transcripts. The production takes the audience inside an intimate world of secret bookstores, banned novels, and underground desire, as they collaborate with the company to compose an erotic story.

The cast includes Marisa Moureau, Alexis Pratt, Melina Rabin, Sammy Rivas, and Grayson Willenbacher, with understudies Emily Cummings, Caroline DeFazio, Billie Eric Robinson, and Camilo Zuqui.

The production team includes technical director Jacob P.S Lemmenes, set and lighting designer Yung-Hung Sung, set and projections designer Seth Black, costume designer Stephanie Lopez, and intimacy coordinator Lauren DeLeon.