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Sordid retail drama headed to off-Broadway

8/25/2015

New York -- Coming soon: a theatrical spin on the drama surrounding American Apparel and its controversial founder and ousted CEO Dov Charney.



The play, entitled "Unseamly,” is due to make its off-Broadway debut on October 8, at the Urban Stages theatre. The drama, which first ran in Montreal in 2014, was written by Oren Safdie a first cousin of Charney. (Safdie has had several plays produced off-Broadway).



It’s hard to see the play, which revolves around a fictional clothing company (The Standard) and claims of sexual harassment by a young female employee, as anything but a thinly-veiled take on Charney and American Apparel under his tenure. Here is how Urban Stages describes “Unseamly” on its website:



“The Standard is a popular international clothing company known for their risqué billboards of nearly-naked models. It is during Malina's time there as a store manager that she faces harassment and assault. She is desperate to press charges, but her CEO boss, Ira, paints a picture of an opportunistic young girl he practically had to fight off. In a sexually-charged industry -- what is ethical? What is the truth? And who is really getting hurt? You decide.”



The Standard is described as a sweatshop-free apparel company, “famous for its sexualization of women” and provocative billboards, led by Ira Slatsky, a hyper egomaniac in his early forties, according to Buzzfeed.



“There’s no getting away from the fact that people know he’s (Charney) my cousin,” Safdie told Buzzfeed last year. “All my plays touch on people I know in some ways. I personally in this play feel that all sides have given their voice.”



In a recent interview, with the New York Post, Safdie said this:



“Some people have called me an opportunist, and others have called me brave. I have my own private reasons for writing the play; none of them are directed towards my cousin.”



The playwright and his famous cousin are no longer on speaking terms, according to the Post.


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