WAIMEA — While many people go to the theater to escape their problems, the Kahilu Theatre Youth Troupe wants audience members to confront those issues head on.
Next weekend, the Youth Troupe will be performing “Spring Awakening,” an award-winning and controversial musical at the Kahilu Theatre. The musical, adapted from a play written by Frank Wedekind in 1891, is set in 19th-century Germany and tells the story of the hardships young people face as they grow into early adulthood.
“It’s a very difficult show, in a lot of ways, because it touches on a lot of subjects that make people inherently uncomfortable,” Nicholas Haas, who plays one of the male lead roles of Melchior, said. “But it brings to light the realities that people do face, especially in the darker parts of humanity.”
Directed by Beth Dunnington, it’ll be the first production of “Spring Awakening” at the Kahilu Theatre and will run for one weekend, Saturday, June 23 and Sunday, June 24. The music is rock-based and features a live seven-piece band on stage.
The characters of the musical face issues such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, abortion, suicide and problems faced by LGBT teens.
“It’s the kind of play where the writers were using it as a way to allow art to start a conversation that people don’t necessarily want to start by themselves,” stage manager Sam Peele said. “It highlights a lot of issues that are prevalent in our country, but also in this community as well. It highlights things like teen pregnancy, teen suicide and gay rights.”
The hardships the characters face resonate with the cast and crew.
Daniel Gregg, who plays Moritz, said one song in particular has the most impact on him.
“I’ve been listening to the music from the show since I was 17, and it really bleeds into the teen angst period with all the songs, and it’s not afraid to tackle some really difficult stuff,” Gregg said. “I think my favorite song in the show is, Melchior sings this song called ‘Left Behind’ after my character Moritz commits suicide, and it’s at the funeral, and it’s one of those moments where you don’t realize what you have until you lose it.”
The same funeral for Moritz is a favorite of Peele, too.
“The funeral for him definitely resonates with me. A friend of mine passed away a few years ago in a similar way and we rehearsed it for the first time yesterday, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room,” Peele said. “We had to go through that as a cast first to make it as real as possible for the audience. That part resonated the most for me, because it just shows to the amount of people that are thinking that way and feeling that way, there’s always help out there.”
Both Peele and Dunnington want the audience to know the theater is prepared for the heavy feelings that the audience may experience during the show.
“I’d say the main reason we’re doing this is because the message behind the play is so important. It brings up a lot of things … and it starts that conversation that some people don’t know how to start, or don’t want to start,” Peele said. “Bearing that in mind, that there is so much heavy content with this play, we are doing something we haven’t done in the past, which is we’re doing a health fair at the same time.”
During intermission and after the show, members from various health and mental health organizations will be set up in the lobby of the Kahilu Theatre to help support the audience members if they may need it.
“After we did ‘13,’ the musical last year, which deals with issues 13-year-old kids face, a lot of people came up to me and said, ‘Thank you for doing that’ and ‘it was really important that these kids see this,’” Dunnington said. “So we went further and did the strongest issue-driven musical we could.”
Dunnington said the play’s run at Kahilu Theatre is timely as “Spring Awakening” was recently performed by the students at Parkland High School in Florida, and was the center of the plot for the television show “Rise” this year. Cast member Melinda Polet said the nature of rehearsals and acting usually can lead to the actors becoming “self-absorbed,” but the subject matter of “Spring Awakening” has kept the cast down to earth.
The cast and crew promises the play ends on a high note. Dunnington said the final song of the play, “The Song of Purple Summer,” is an upbeat song that shows the characters moving forward in their life despite what may have happened to them.
“In the world, there is so much sadness,” Noelani Anderson, who plays Ilse, said. “There is political unrest going on in all sorts of countries, there’s natural disasters happening, and on a micro level there’s abuse, suicide and mental health issues with people everywhere. If we cling to human connection and honesty, and find those moments of love and human connection and spirit … and the show really finishes with that.”
“Spring Awakening” will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 23 and 4 p.m. Sunday, June 24 at the Kahilu Theatre in Waimea. Tickets are $35/$25/$20 and can be purchased at kahilutheatre.org, by calling 885-6868 or at the Kahilu Theatre box office.