Page 19 - the NOISE November 2013

special. “Duncan Sheik wrote the music,” she explains. “You may remember him as the one- hit-wonder from the 90’s with the song, Barely Breathing. My husband bought that CD when it came out. My favorite part of the music is the harmonic structure, both the progres- sions and the extended chords he uses. I am really excited to hear it put together with the band, since the instrumentation is so beauti- ful. There is also an edginess to the sound that helps to propel the emotional energy. The music and script require emotional agility. We move between such a variety of emotions — grief, anger, joy, desire. It can be challenging, but I find this depth to be extremely reward- ing. The emotional accessibility of the actors is outstanding. They able to go to vulnerable places and share an inner part of them — that is incredibly moving. I am truly touched at each rehearsal.”
“The play is definitely centered in some dark themes, yet the ultimate message is of hope and love,” Ms. Galloway tells me about the meaning behind the play. “It is truly a gift to be able to explore some of the messier as- pects of our existence through theater. The energy, talent and desire for excellence from the cast is such a joy for me to work with. It has definitely been uplifting for my own spirit.
For both Willie Hines and Devon Mahon Spring Awakening is their Senior Capstone per- formance. The two play counterparts to each other’s roles and tell me a bit about their char- acters and the play.
“Hanschen is a very creepy boy who provides a great bit of comic relief during the show, all the while bringing a very serious issue to the audience,” says Mr. Hines. “Hanschen is im- portant to Spring Awakening because he and his counterpart Ernst bring up the issue of homosexuality and expression of love and sex between a same sex couple.”
amongst the youth and how adults under- mine what teens are feeling and thinking,” Mr. Hines tells me. “It still holds true to issues we have today, and that is what is most important to me; the fact that we can expose audiences to this subject matter and open a dialogue.”
Devon Mahon tells me about Ernst, the counterpart to Hanschen. “Even though Ernst is more of a secondary character he can take the audience on quite a journey,” Mr. Mahon says. “He starts as this boy who views his life as some big test because he has feelings for his classmates and he’s afraid to admit it. He also always plays by the rules and doesn’t like to upset authority. However, Ernst has a break- through moment in the play where he opens up about his feelings and his longing to be loved, and even further down the line he al- lows his passions to spring forth as he surren- ders himself to Hanschen, a classmate of his.”
“The play evokes a lot of questions about sexual nature; it touches on masturbation, do- mestic/sexual abuse, homosexuality, consent for sex, and even discussing sex,” elaborates Mr. Mahon. “Ernst in this show is someone who is very naïve, he doesn’t know much about sex (until he reads Melchior’s essay), but he knows that unlike some of the other boys in his class he’s more interested in them than the females in the show. Like Wendla, Ernst goes through an awakening as he explores his sexuality with Hanschen.”
Hannah Palazzi, a 19-year old theater major plays Wendla. She tells me of how her experi- ence as part of the cast has been so far. “I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to work with this talented group of individuals — all of us pow- ering towards producing the best show we can,” she says. “It’s amazing how each little piece of the production puzzle is falling into place each day we go to rehearsal. I can’t wait for the final product.”
“Spring Awakening is a tale of repression
“I have five characters to play,” Kayla Cook
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thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news • NOVEMBER 2013 • 19