A new stage play, Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship and Secrets, based on true events from 1926-1932, will hit New York this summer. The official site for the play wittily describes it as “Verdi-worthy villains rising up against an actress who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong,” featuring “true events that took place during the Prohibition Era in Jefferson Market’s judicial chambers.” Tarkington enters into the story because of his connection to NYC during that period and a editorial on the controversy that he penned for Collier’s. “The storyline uses specifics of Mae West’s life to explore issues that still resonate today such as censorship, gay rights, celebrity, and the news media,” according to LindaAnn Loschiavo, the play’s author.

Onstage in July 2008 in New York City at the Algonquin Theatre, 123 East 24th Street as part of The Annual Fresh Fruit Festival. According to festival Artistic Director Carol Polcovar, the event “encompasses theater, performance, poetry, comedy, spoken word, music, dance, visual arts and some talents that defy categorization.”

See the play’s official site for more info.