Cygnet Theatre to Stage SPRING AWAKENING

Cygnet Artistic Director Sean Murray will direct Spring Awakening, an eight-time Tony Award-winning musical with an electrifying rock score by Duncan Sheik. This intoxicating story of youth and sexuality is based on an 1895 play by Frank Wedekind and features a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. The production, featuring choreography by award-winning dance maker Michael Mizerany, runs March 6 through April 27 at the Old Town Theatre. Opening Night is March 15th.

The production contains mature themes, sexual situations and explicit language that may not be suitable for all ages. Still, Murray feels strongly that the rock musical about rebellious 19th century teenagers who take a provocative journey from adolescence to adulthood is a perfect way to begin discussions between teens and adults.

"One of the powerful qualities of the brilliant musical adaptation is that the material is fresh, honest and presented from the kid's point of view," Murray explained. "They can see them represented on stage in a manner that they can believe and hear their voices coming from the characters. This is very important as we want young people to discover the power of live theatre for themselves." To support this, Murray has cast an array of young talent in the roles of the rebellious and questioning students. "We've discovered some extraordinarily talented musical theater kids who can bring their youthful energy and authenticity to these characters," explained Murray.

Spring Awakening premiered on Broadway in 2006 to great acclaim and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Direction, Book and Score. The success of the Broadway production has spawned other productions worldwide and jump-started the musical theater career of rock musician Duncan Sheik. Since then, Sheik has written several new musicals including Whisper House and The Nightingale, both of which were presented on San Diego stages. Thanks to a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Sheik will be in San Diego to participate in special Cygnet Theatre events including a post show talk back. Dates and times are yet to be determined and will be announced soon.

The Cygnet production features Dave Thomas Brown (Shakespeare's R &J) as Melchior, the headstrong, handsome, and charismatic lead. Playing Moritz, his intense and nervous friend is Charles Evans Jr., making his Cygnet debut. Wendla will be performed by Taylor Aldrich, also making her Cygnet Theatre debut.They are joined by Cygnet Resident Artist Jacob Caltrider (Assassins, The History Boys), along with William Corkery, Claire Keefer, Adi Mullen, Dylan Mulvaney, Amy Perkins, Christopher Ruetten, and Katy Tang. Rounding out the cast and playing the parts of all the adults are Matt Thompson and Debra Wanger Yaruss.

Murray is re-conceiving the way the story will be told and incorporating design and costume elements unique to this production. "The show has such iconic imagery. We want to rethink things and do them our way." The production, under the musical direction of Terry O'Donnell, will feature a 6-piece band that will perform live on stage. Ryan Grossheim is on board as set designer, with lighting by Chris Rynne and costumes by Shirley Pierson. The design team also includes wigs and makeup by Peter Herman, props by Angelica Ynfante, and sound design by Matt Lescault-Wood.

Spring Awakening will be performed at Cygnet's Old Town Theatre March 6 - April 27, 2014. Opening Night is March 15, 2014. Show times are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm and 7pm.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting Cygnet's website at www.cygnettheatre.com or by calling the box office at 619-337-1525. Tickets can also be purchased in person by visiting Cygnet's box office located at the Old Town Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St. in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.