Get your tickets to the University of Minnesota, Morris Theatre Discipline's production of Spring Awakening, the 2006 Broadway rock musical based on Frank Wedekind's 1906 stage play! Produced in part by the IAS's Page to Stage Research and Creative Collaborative, the production involves 20+ students, faculty, and UMM staff. From RCC convener Ray Schultz:
Our collaborative has been gearing up for our cornerstone event, the production of the musical, Spring Awakening, by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, based on the controversial 19th century play by Frank Wedekind. The production boasts a cast of 20 University of Minnesota, Morris undergraduates and upwards of 25 more UMM faculty, students, and alumni working behind the scenes. In preparation for the musical, which runs November 1-4, the Theatre Discipline recently hosted stage combat expert Chaya Gordon Bland from the University of South Dakota to teach a workshop on unarmed stage combat to students, as well as to stage the many acts of violence in the play. On Thursday, October 19, the company, led by collaborators Ray Schultz, director of the musical, and Katie Rowles-Perich, who plays the leading female role of Wendla, and student dramaturg Bailey Soika, will give a lecture demonstration about the show, entitled "Adolescent Sexuality in Spring Awakening: 'Bliss-Less' Ignorance," as part of the UMM Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Works in Progress series. Other events on the horizon include a staged reading of the original Frank Wedekind play in both English and its original German, a dance work based on the play choreographed by collaborator Stephanie Ferrian and other musical events and talks to be announced for the spring.
The performances run from Nov 1-Nov 4; 7:30pm Wednesday-Saturday; 2:30pm Saturday matinee. Tickets are available at tickets.umn.edu, or by calling 320-589-6077.