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Mrs. Warren’s Profession

Back in the day on October 30th, 1905, George Bernard Shaw’s play “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” debuted in New York. After having been banned in Britain, the socialist playwright’s production exploring the social underpinnings of prostitution moved to the States. “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” opened in New Haven, Connecticut at the Hyperion Theater only to be shut down the very next day by the Mayor on the grounds of that something “improper” had transpired during the production. The theater company then moved to Garrick Theater in New York. Opening night was a successful sell-out, but that didn’t stop the press from slamming the play as improper the very next day. Before the curtain could rise once more, the producer and actors involved in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” were arrested on obscenity charges.

As the production was actually free of lewd acts and obscene words, the resulting court cases did not end in any convictions. Perhaps the play’s real crime was suggesting that the poverty of capitalism is what compelled women into the “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.”

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history