‘The People Versus Lenny Bruce’

The first time I became aware of Susan Charlotte was when I attended “The Shoemaker,” her play about an Italian-Jewish cobbler who was in his shop on 9/11. The attack brings up memories of his father, who died in a Nazi concentration camp after sending his then 9-year-old son to safety in the United States.

Her latest is “The People Versus Lenny Bruce” — who also was Jewish. So naturally enough I wonder if she considers herself a Jewish playwright.

“I would describe myself as a playwright who explores many themes, including things about Jews,” Ms. Charlotte said in a Zoom interview. “Obviously that will come up in my work. So, yeah, there have been a number of my plays that deal with Judaism and Jewish themes, which are important to me.

“Especially given what’s been going on in this country.”

But Ms. Charlotte’s preoccupation with what is going on in this country is not limited to Jewish causes and antisemitism. She is the founding artistic director of Cause Célèbre Productions, which attempts to connect causes with film, television and theater.

In fact, “The People Versus Lenny Bruce,” which runs from May 7 to June 28 at Theater Row, is one of a triptych of plays that are all cause-related.

The second, which Ms. Charlotte hopes will follow “Lenny Bruce” onto Theater Row, is “Jane Doe,” about sexual abuse, and the third is “The Last Chance Cafe,” about voter suppression.

“Jane Doe” is about a woman who was raped in a Brooklyn Park in 1994. Daily News columnist Michael McAlary, relying on information provided by police sources, wrote three columns about the incident, suggesting that she made the story up to promote a rally about violence against lesbians. At least in part as a result of that story, her case was not pursued actively. In 2018, using advanced DNA techniques, NYPD SVU connected a convict already in prison for a series of rapes to the attack on Jane Doe.

“Last Chance Café” looks at the case of Henrietta Wright, a black woman who dared to register to vote just 20 days after the 1965 Civil Rights Act passed. In response, local cops came, shotguns in hand, to arrest her for supposedly driving through a stop sign.

“I think we’re the only theater company — or at least any company I know of — that has its mission to blend issues of all kinds with the arts,” Ms. Charlotte said. “But this particular series is very important to me because these are such important and relevant issues.

“Also, we’re lucky enough to have Marty, who is turning 92 but still defending people and practicing law, and is sharper than anyone I know.”

Marty, of course, is Martin Garbus, the prominent civil liberties attorney who was involved in each of these cases and is a character in all three shows.

“Marty, who is considered the leading First Amendment lawyer, has been a friend of mine for many years,” Ms. Charlotte said. “He was my lawyer years ago, and we reconnected a couple of years ago. I told him these cases are so extraordinary they’d be good for the stage. He’s represented everybody from [Nelson] Mandela to [Andrei] Sakharov. I said, ‘Can I adopt a bunch of them?’”

The three works originally were conceived as one-act plays, but these three expanded into full-length productions.

“So that was the genesis,” Ms. Charlotte said. “It was just knowing Marty and the extraordinary work he’s done. It just turns out that all three plays couldn’t be more relevant today.”

Lenny Bruce — born Leonard Alfred Schneider — was a stand-up comedian, satirist, and social critic who was arrested many times for obscenity. The play deals with his 1964 arrest after a performance at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. The club’s owner, Howard Solomon, was also arrested and charged with obscenity.

Ms. Charlotte worked from court transcripts, conversations with the attorney, and Mr. Garbus’s published memoirs.

“It’s amazing to me that a lot of people don’t know who Lenny Bruce really is,” she said. “He was kind of the father of comedy with George Carlin, right? But a lot of people know him only from ‘Mrs. Maisel,’” where he was a character.

“I wanted people to know about him. This happened in 1964. It’s 2026, and the same thing is going on now.”

Mr. Bruce was convicted despite supporting testimony from a passel of artists, including Jules Feiffer and, surprisingly, conservative newspaper columnist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen, both of whom make appearances here.

I ask her who is the play’s villain. “That’s a good question,” Ms. Charlotte responds. “Who’s the villain? As a person who runs a not-for-profit theater, I can’t talk about which party I’m for. But it’s the people who are making it hard to vote. The people who framed Lenny Bruce. I would say people in power. That’s the villain. Not one person. It’s the government…

“I lived in this country my whole life. My mom’s from Europe. I’ve always believed that one of our strengths here is that we” — the people — “have the power. I don’t feel that way anymore.

“So it’s my attempt with these plays to do something, to not be powerless or quiet.”

Ms. Charlotte was born in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital and grew up in Bayside, Queens. Her father, Leo Weiner, was a poet and earned a poet’s salary. Her mother, Lily, a secretary, was the family’s primary breadwinner.

Ms. Charlotte did not attend Hebrew school. “My brother did. I didn’t, but I wanted to. I would say we weren’t very religious, but Judaism was very important to all of us. But we were very poor, so we didn’t have the money for my brother and myself to go. So my brother went.”

Any last thoughts? “Encourage people to get tickets, please. We need all the support we can get now.”

“The People Versus Lenny Bruce” is at Theater Row on 42nd Street starting May 7. Learn more at bfany.org.