Coming to the Redfern: Spring Awakening

From Jackie Hooper, Redfern Arts Center:

Spring Awakening, a rock musical that deals with young people’s sexuality, will be presented Wednesday to Saturday, November 13 to 16, by the Keene State College Theatre and Dance and Music departments. Each show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of Keene State’s Redfern Arts Center. Tickets are $16 for the general public, $13 for senior citizens, and $6 for KSC students. Spring Awakening contains mature subject matter and may not be appropriate for all audiences. Call the box office at 603-358-2168 or order online at www.keene.edu/racbp.

Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the 2006 Broadway hit Spring Awakening, with music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Steven Sater, was inspired by the 1891 play of the same name by Frank Wedekind. The play takes a critical look at the sexually-oppressive culture of 19th-century Germany and, due to the controversial subject matter (puberty, sexuality, rape, child abuse, homosexuality, suicide, abortion) it was consequently was often banned or censored well into the mid-20th century.

Spring Awakening is being jointly produced by the Theatre and Dance Department and the Department of Music, both of which provide funding for the production.

Dr. Angela Barlow, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, will lead a discussion along with members of the cast following the Thursday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m. performance Spring Awakening. The talkback, sponsored by Alpha Psi Omega, Keene State College’s theater and dance honor society, will focus on sexual expression as “deviant” in the sexually oppressive 19th century.

For more information on the production and its cast, see the full story at keene.edu.