VIDEO: On This Day, September 27- Deaf West's SPRING AWAKENING Opens on Broadway!

By: Sep. 27, 2018
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Today we celebrate the breathtaking Deaf West revival of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's adolescent rock musical, Spring Awakening, which opened on Broadway on this day in 2015.

SPRING AWAKENING, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical of 2007, was utterly transformed by the company, performed simultaneously in American Sign Language and spoken and sung in English. Deaf West Theatre was last represented on Broadway with the triumphant production of Big River in 2003.

SPRING AWAKENING was a celebration of diversity on Broadway: Cast member Ali Stroker was the first person on Broadway in a wheelchair; it was the first Broadway show to conduct its ticket lottery in American Sign Language; and the production performed at The White House as part of an event titled "Americans with Disabilities and the Arts: A Celebration of Diversity and Inclusion." Plus, the producers were honored by the New York City Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities with the Champions of Change Award.

Based on Frank Wedekind's controversial 1891 expressionist play of the same name and featuring an electrifying pop/rock score, SPRING AWAKENING follows the lives of a group of adolescents as they navigate their journey from adolescence to adulthood in a fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll. An extraordinary creative team including Michael Arden and Spencer Liff reinvented the groundbreaking musical about lost innocence and the struggles of youth in true Deaf West style.


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