I just finished playing Lemml in Paula Vogel’s exquisite play “Indecent” at San Francisco Playhouse in California. The show was the best reviewed production in San Francisco Playhouse’s 20 year history.
Here’s what the critics had to say about my performance:
“The linchpin of Vogel’s historical melodrama is Lemml, played by the unforgettable Dean Linnard … Linnard physically embodies the Jewish story—personally and politically—in a stunning performance.” Barry David Horwitz, Theatrius
“I loved the cast. Scratch that. I adored the cast. Every damn one of them. Dean Linnard is something close to perfection: spectacularly wide-eyed as the youthful Lemml, thrilled to be a part of theatre even in the smallest way, yet gritty and filled with righteous anger when he feels betrayed.” Patrick Thomas, Talkin’ Broadway
“Lemml the stage manager is really the heart and soul of the play … Dean Linnard exudes intensity as Lemml, unfailingly kind, seemingly selfless and quietly zealous about this one particular play … Even in his most jubilant moments, there’s a haunted quality about Linnard’s Lemml, a melancholy lurking beneath the surface that foreshadows sorrows to come.” Sam Hurwitt, The Mercury News
“Dean Linnard as a stage manager in both the play and the meta-play could tell the show’s whole story with just his expressive eyes. They are the smoldering coals of a furnace, then hollowed-out skull pits, then gleaming electric bulbs. When as an immigrant at last rejecting America’s false promises, he spits out each word of the sentence “I am done being in a country that laughs at the way I speak” as if each English word uttered is also a weapon against himself.” Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle