“Spring Awakening,” a production based on a play by Frank Wedekind which takes place in 1891 Germany, is the first show by American River College’s theater department this fall and runs through Oct. 22.
The play was Wedekind’s warning to his generation that the sexually oppressive culture, alongside the excessively strict repressive approach to parenting, was leading to an epidemic of teen pregnancies and suicide.
It has been subject to censorship for decades on multiple continents. ARC’s rendition features a rock-and-roll delivery of the emotional lives of the teenagers whose stories are throughout the show. The characters see beauty and promise in life while dealing with the conflicts of adult society.
Pamela Downs, a professor of theater arts at ARC, took on the task of directing the production. Downs has been teaching at ARC for 33 years and has directed more than 30 plays on campus.
Downs says that her experience preparing for the show has been fabulous.
“I am over the moon with the work that has been done by the students and other faculty,” Downs said in an email to the Current.
With every show, there are difficulties that members must face.
“[It has been difficult] getting the correct pronunciation of German names and preparing for a live band on stage instead of in the pit,” Downs said.
The musical score features both inexpressibly beautiful full-group ballads and vibrant rock-and-roll numbers full of what Downs considers “exuberant profanity.”
“The musical “Spring Awakening” is a play I have wanted to tackle for a long time. As an educator, its themes resonate with me,” Downs said. “They are as timely now as when Frank Wedekind’s play of the same name rocked the European theater world in 1891.”
Tracy Martin, an adjunct professor of theatre arts at ARC, leads the vocals for the production.
“Accompanied by a live band, the cast is rich with some of the best musical theatre performers from our school and community,” Martin said in an email to the Current. “Please come experience this exciting, evocative production. Its refrains –from the raucous to the sublime– [it] will stay with you for years to come.”
“Spring Awakening” runs on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. There are also shows on Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 15 and 22 at 2 p.m.
