By Malysa Kettavong | Staff Writer
For two weekends at the Casino Theatre, Salve Regina University’s Department of Theatre presented the mature and explicit alternative rock musical, Spring Awakening.
Spring Awakening explores the minds of teenagers, their innocence and their sexual desires, amongst other things. However, as seen in the musical, their sexual curiosities and questions were frowned upon in their 19th-century German society and became suppressed. With no guidance–and even punishment–from adults, these teenagers had to figure out their sexuality themselves.
Moritz Stiefel, played by sophomore theatre arts major Nathaniel Flachs, first introduces the idea of sexuality when his admiration of the female body causes him to lose sleep. His insomnia later takes control over him, causing him to fail classes in school and eventually leads him to contemplate suicide.
Moritz’s best friend and main character, Melchior Gabor, is the most intelligent out of the group of teenagers. His radical ideas and observations of society’s corruption makes him a fan favorite. Played by senior theatre arts major, Hunter Nicolson, Melchior shows the rebellious side of teenagers.
Melchior’s love interest, Wendla Bergmann, shows the overall innocence and naivety of the characters and how lack of sex education is problematic. Wendla, played by senior theatre arts major Mariana Bracciale, is later impregnated by Melchior and faces the threat of abortion.
Performed by a talented cast, other important teenagers throughout the play include Martha Bessell, Ilse Neumann, Hänschen Rilow, Ernst Röbel, Georg Zirschnitz and Otto Lämmermeier. They respectively symbolize child abuse, running away, manipulation, experimenting, and sexual admiration of adults. Each of these characters have their own battle to fight, with most of their battles being against their thoughts or the adults around them.
The Tony Award winning Best Musical was directed and produced by Reggie Phoenix, an associate professor and theatre program coordinator at Salve Regina University. He wanted this musical to include children in the discussions of life, love, death, birth, depression, sex and their place in society.
“It seeks to alert us all of the importance of engaging, hearing, explaining and teaching our children the sometimes-difficult truths that are part all of our collective lives,” said Phoenix. “I hope that this play will spark conversations between parents and their children.”
Throughout the musical, audience members will find themselves laughing, crying and relating to the characters as they fumble through their nostalgia and strong emotions. The musical received a standing ovation, an ovation rightfully given.
