"The nudity at that moment was so essential to the storytelling and the revelation of character."

That's what you'd expect them to say, but this other quote, from an article about all the nudity in Broadway and Off Broadway plays, rings true:

"There is no question that nudity has been used to try to artistically justify a false moment, or to cover up mediocre playwriting or, more commonly, to sensationalize a play to get people in the seats."

And why all the male nudity? In current shows, there are 40 naked men and only 10 naked women:

"Maybe a naked male is threatening, maybe it's fear, or homophobia," he said. "I think an artist who chooses to use nudity is trying to communicate something. And I think a penis is more theatrical."

Clearly, male nudity means something different from female nudity, but we might want to know whether these plays are about producing meaning and not just producing profits before we should bother to plumb those depths.

Side note: I used to go to life drawing sessions here on campus, and the organizer once admitted that the artists used to call her up in advance to try to find out if the model was going to be male or female. They were planning to skip the session if the model was male! She wouldn't tell them though and was offended that they'd even ask.