OUT OF THE CLOSET,
OUT OF THE ARCHIVES

Silenced after two performances in 1922,
a remarkably progressive Dutch drama
finally receives its U.S. premiere

A play that scandalized Rotterdam in 1922 is finally getting its American premiere more than a century later. Written by Dutch novelist and playwright Jo M. van Ijssel de Schepper-Becker (pronouned “Yo vahn EYE-suhl duh SCHEP-uhr BEK-uhr”), Forbidden! begins performances August 19 at The Foundry in Wilton Manors, Florida, in a new production from Plays of Wilton directed by Ronnie Larsen.

Originally titled Wat niet mag! (Mustn’t Do It!), the drama did something extraordinary for its time. Its central character is openly gay, comes out to his family, and is presented not as diseased, immoral, or deserving of punishment, but as a man entitled to love and acceptance. Many theater scholars now regard it as the world’s first coming-out play. That was considerably more than Rotterdam was prepared to tolerate in 1922. Critics and medical journals attacked the production, institutional opposition followed, and the play closed after only two performances.

Alex Martinez and Chad Raven

Then it virtually disappeared. Theater historian Laurence Senelick rediscovered and translated the work in 2010, bringing attention to a play whose history is almost as intriguing as its subject. Particularly striking is its author. Schepper-Becker, born in Rotterdam in 1885, was a woman writing sympathetically about homosexuality at a time when simply presenting a gay protagonist as normal could provoke public outrage.

The play itself takes place in the outwardly respectable home of an upper-middle-class family, where one son’s secret life forces long-suppressed tensions into the open. The circumstances may belong to another era, but the questions Schepper-Becker raises about family loyalty, prejudice, social pressure, and the price of coming out hardly sound like relics from 1922.

Sara Grant, Seth Trucks, Nicole Hulett, Chad Raven, and Alex Martinez

Larsen, who has spent much of his career producing gay theater, was startled that a work with this pedigree had escaped his notice. Now South Florida will become one of the relatively few places where it has actually been performed. The cast includes Seth Trucks, Sara Grant, Nicole Hulett, Alex Martinez, and Chad Raven, with scenic design by Jeff Walters, lighting by Preston Bircher, and sound by Panos Miltos.

There’s something satisfying about a play silenced after two performances finally getting the six-week run it was denied a century ago. Forbidden! opens August 27, with performances at The Foundry through late September. Tickets are just $10.

Seth Trucks, Sara Grant, Alex Martinez (seated), Chad Raven, and Nicole Hulett

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photos by Dennis Dean

Forbidden!
Plays of Wilton
The Foundry, 2306 N. Dixie Hwy. in Wilton Manors
Wed–Sat at 8; Sat–Sun at 3
runs Aug 27 through Sept 27, 2026
for tickets ($10), visit Plays of Wilton and TicketTailor

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