Helen Bell

South Portland's Lyric Music Theater is taking a bold and daring step in presenting the 2006 musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind's 1891 provocative play, Spring Awakening. The wrenching musical drama explores with a piercing honesty the lives of teenagers and their adult authority figures locked in a lethal struggle as the young men and women search for freedom of expression, sexual liberation and fulfillment, and the embrace of their true identities in a dark, corseted world of repression and convention. The issues raised by Frank Wedekind's play remain as potent and relevant today as they did in the late 19th century, and the Steven Sater book and lyrics and Duncan Sheik music remain true to the essence of the piece. Wedekind's world - the world of Freud and nascent psychology - is a bleak place where adults abuse their children psychologically and physically, where creativity is stifled, and love - as a total expression of body and soul - is forbidden. In this dark universe, the young villagers long in secret and search for a path through the pain.

Red Branch Theatre Company (RBTC) will kick off its 2015 season entitled Coming of Age with the TONY Award-winning alt-rock musical, Spring Awakening. The production will run at Drama Learning Center, where Red Branch is the theatre in residence, from tonight, April 17 - May 2, 2015. Various special events will occur in conjunction with the run.

Red Branch Theatre Company (RBTC) will kick off its 2015 season entitled Coming of Age with the TONY Award-winning alt-rock musical, Spring Awakening. The production will run at Drama Learning Center, where Red Branch is the theatre in residence, from April 17 - May 2, 2015. Various special events will occur in conjunction with the run.