Sex (play) Sex (play) Sex is a 1926 play written by and starring Mae West, who used the pen name "Jane Mast". The play opens at Rocky's residence on Caidoux Street in Montreal's red light district. Rocky receives an unwanted visit from Dawson, a police officer he has been paying off to keep quiet about a murder. Rocky offers Margy, a prostitute who works for him, as payment to Dawson, but she refuses. Dawson leaves without trouble, but swears to return for his money. Margy longs to leave Rocky for a better life, but she currently has no realistic alternative. Rocky leaves
Sex (play) full audiences. "Sex" was the only play on Broadway that season to stay open through the summer, into the following year. There were 375 performances before the New York Police Department raided West and her company in February 1927. They were charged with obscenity, after 325,000 people had watched it, including members of the police department and their wives, judges of the criminal courts, and seven members of the district attorney's staff. West was sentenced to 10 days in a workhouse on Roosevelt Island (known then as "Welfare Island") and fined $500. The resulting publicity increased her national renown. The