SPRING AWAKENING, a play by Frank Wedekind
translated by Jonathan Franzen
In a culture where lies about adolescence prevail, this funny and honest play is more relevant than ever” unsettling even in our own sex-saturated culture.
Spring Awakening contains mature themes, sexual situations and strong language.
November 11, Thursday, 8:00 pm
November 12, Friday, 8:00 pm
November 13, Saturday, 8:00 pm
November 18, Thursday, 8:00 pm
November 19, Friday, 8:00 pm
November 20, Saturday, 2:30 pm Matinee
November 20, Saturday, 8:00 pm
ARTS Building – Studio Theatre, ARTS 113
Tickets: (951) 827-4331 $14.00 General admission, $12.00 Students and Seniors
Parking: $5.00 in Lot 1 (No fee with UC permit)
Information: (951) 827-3245 performingarts@ucr.edu
RIVERSIDE, CA
The Department of Theatre at the University of California, Riverside, is pleased to present SPRING AWAKENING, a play by Frank Wedekind, translated by Jonathan Franzen.
“Written in 1891, the controversial play was scandalous in its day for addressing sex violence, and suicide. …so daring in its depiction of teenage self-discovery, it was banned from the stage and not performed in its complete form in English for more than 100 years.”
-Spring Awakening, Camp Broadway StageNOTES
“First performed under heavy censorship in Germany in 1906, Frank Wedekind’s play closed after one night in New York in 1917 amid public outrage and charges of obscenity. The play’s content was radical indeed: teenage sex, suicide, abortion, masturbation, sadomasochism. But even more radical was the unsentimental and brutally authentic comedy with which Wedekind treated it. The story traces the dawning sexual awareness of four teenagers, Melchior, Moritz, Wendla, and Hansy, who, in their painfully funny contradictions they are at once too innocent and not remotely innocent at all remain fresh and unsettling even in our own sex-saturated culture.”
– Dramatists Play Service
Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) was a German playwright whose work often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex). His work is considered to anticipate expressionism, and he was a major influence on the development of epic theatre. Wedekind’s first major play, Spring Awakening, 1891, which concerns sexuality and puberty among some young German students, caused a scandal, as it contained scenes of homoeroticism, masturbation, and suicide, as well as references to abortion. In 2006, it was adapted into a successful Broadway musical, Spring Awakening. Wedekind received wide acclaim as an actor and singer. The “Lulu” plays Earth Spirit, 1895 and Pandora’s Box, 1904 are probably his best known works. The two pieces tell a continuous story of a sexually-enticing young dancer who rises in German society through her relationships with wealthy men, but who later falls into poverty and prostitution. The frank depiction of sexuality and violence in these plays, including lesbianism and an encounter with Jack the Ripper (a role which Wedekind played himself in the original production), pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable on the stage at the time.
Eric Barr (Director) teaches acting and directing classes and regularly directs in the UCR season. In recent years he has directed such departmental productions as Nickel and Dimed, The Rocky Horror Show, The Sea Gull, Angels in America, The Visit and Metamorphoses. For five years he was the Artistic Director of the Porthouse Theatre, a professional summer stock company in Cleveland, Ohio. He taught acting and movement for actors at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting in Los Angeles and worked as an acting coach with the National Theatre of the Deaf. He received his M.F.A. from Wayne State University, where he was an acting and directing fellow in the Hilberry Repertory Theatre and he studied movement, masks, and theatre at Ecole Jacques LeCoq in Paris, France. He is the Founding Director of the Palm Desert MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts and was one of the architects of the UCR MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. He recently finished writing The Heart of Acting, a book on acting, and is at work on a directing text entitled Direct from the Center.
Haibo Yu (Scenic Designer) is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and The Society of British Theatre Designers. He has a BFA from the Central Academy of Drama, in China, an MA from the University of Leeds, in England, and an MFA equivalent from Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, London. He has worked in theatre, film, and television in Europe, China, Hong Kong, and the United States. His design credits include: The Adventure of Pr Quinly for South Coast Repertory; The Little Prince, and Tea for Sacramento Theatre Company;Convenience for Human Race Theatre, Ohio; Modigliani for Elephant Theatre, LA; A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Merry Women of Windsor, and As You Like It for Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival; Stone Angel for Broomsberry Theatre, London; Whale for Haragate Theatre, England; Casablanca, The Dance (Associate Designer) for Warner Brothers Film; The Opium War for Xie-Jin Films and The Foreign Moon for Media Asia (Hong Kong) and BBC Films. He was a co-author of the book Devised and Collaborative Theatre and is skilled in the use of digital technology in theatre design.
Bonnie Robinson Cage (Costume Designer) is the Costume Shop Manager, and a Designer/Lecturer for the UCR Department of Theatre. She has previously worked for the University of Houston, the Houston Shakespeare Festival and the Childrens Theatre Festival, and served as Head Cutter/Draper and Adjunct professor and Designer. She was a visiting assistant professor at Prairie View A & M University in Texas, serving as Costumer and Historian. Bonnie completed her MFA at Utah State University. She worked as technical designer in the California fashion industry before pursuing a career in costume design. She also worked seven seasons with the Utah Shakespearean Festival in various capacities including costume shop manager and costume designer for a touring production.
Jay Beard (Lighting Designer) is a graduate of Serrano High School in Phelan, California, and a senior double-major in Theatre and Media and Cultural Studies. At UCR, she served as Stage Manager on Metamorphoses, The Marriage of Figaro and iFamily. She was Assistant Stage Manager on Romeo and Juliet and on crew for The Servant of Two Masters, Playworks 09, A Dolls House, and Intimate Apparel and elsewhere for Marvins Room, The Matchmaker, The Wizard of Oz and In the Boom Boom Room. She was Lighting Designer for Playworks 2010. She completed a production internship at the Blank Theatre Company in 2004, where she served as Stage Manager for the companys Young Playwrights Festival.
Glen Dunzweiler (Lighting Designer) has an MFA in Lighting and Sound Design from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and is the resident Lighting and Sound Designer for the UCR Department of Theatre. He has designed for the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Henlopen Theatre Project in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and International City Theatre in Long Beach, California. While in Las Vegas, he was the Resident Designer for the UNLV Dance Department and worked for the moving light company VariLite Production Services. In 2005, his work was featured in the How I Did That section of Lighting Dimensions Magazine. He has worked with Sculpture Artist Randy Cooper on lighting his Shadow Sculptures, has written a new theatrical work, The Bad Play. Glen is currently producing a feature-length documentary about the middle-class homeless called yHomeless.
TICKET AVAILABILITY: (951) 827-4331
Advance Tickets: available at the University Theatre Fine Arts Ticket Office, Monday – Friday, 10am – 4pm
Walk-Up Tickets: available at the ARTS Building Ticket Office one hour before each performance
Ticketmaster: (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000, www.ticketmaster.com