Sexual content, Sexual abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Self-harm, Suicide, Eating Disorders, Body image, Body dysmorphia

Echoes of Purple Summers

When Spring Awakening opened on Broadway in 2006, it shook the musical theater establishment. The show was an innovative and form-bending exploration of adolescence, and its overtly sexual subject matter was presented with an unapologetic, youthful exuberance. Adapting the play of the same name by German playwright Franz Wedekind, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater infused a 19th-century drama with a pop-punk score. They transformed Wedekind’s “Children’s Tragedy” into something fresh and equally potent.

Wedekind wrote Spring Awakening in reaction to the conservative and pious bourgeois morality of 19th-century Germany, where basic human needs were condemned as libidinous and bestial. Spring Awakening ’s scathing critique of that society was as brutal as the cane wielded by its viscous schoolmasters. The play foregrounds young pubescents discovering masturbation and sexual desires, their adults refusing to educate them or give any guidance: sexual education is inherently immoral. Wedekind’s characters receive instead an often-impenetrable classical education, and they understand their own bodies less than they do Virgil’s Latin or Plato’s Greek. The play’s themes of homosexuality, sexual assault, and abortion infuriated the German public, and censors frequently banned the play. Spring Awakening did not premiere until 1906, some 15 years after its initial composition and publication. Even when it was allowed to be performed, many of the play’s most controversial scenes were cut: demonstrating the exact ignorance and hypocrisy that Wedekind sought to expose.

Sheik and Sater set their Spring Awakening in a province of Imperial Germany, and the adaptation deliberately resembles the dialogue and episodic structure of Wedekind’s original work. This choice transforms the musical’s songs into a clever device. In many Western musicals, songs drive the plot forward or grant emotional resolution, and the actors sing to each other or sing their internal dialogue. In Spring Awakening , the songs are instead turned to the audience in the form of direct address, and they serve as an outward expression of the character’s internal states—a nod to the Expressionist roots of Wedekind’s play. Music provides a direct window into the characters’ feelings of angst and yearning: a yearning for knowledge, physical contact, and understanding. In his note to the libretto, Sater remarks that the songs offer “breaks'' from the “confines” of the character’s 19th-century world. During Sater’s self-described “mini alt-rock concerts,” school children transform into heart throbs, a simultaneous performance of past, present, and the utopic plane of the teen idol.

Exploding out of scenes of stifling bourgeois moralism, the concerts provide a playful breath for the characters’ personal expressions. They also close the distance between Melchior Gabor and Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye , or Wendla Bergmann and Kat Hernandez of HBO’s Euphoria. There is a reason we remain transfixed by this story. We have all been through the pain and beauty that is the transition from child to adult, the “wonder of purple summer.” Prevented from contrasting our supposedly enlightened era to that of Wedekind’s Germany, we are left to wonder: Are our parents and educators today prepared to help teens in their rapidly changing, tech-heavy world? Are we really more comfortable with our own sexualities than Moritz Stiefel is?

By Tyler Everett Adams

On the surface, it might appear that a cautionary tale about 19th century German children and the dangers of omitting proper sex education would have very little relevance to today’s technologically driven world, where all of that information is available instantly and in graphic detail.

However, look more broadly at the core themes of Wedekind’s play and Sheik and Sater’s musical: isolation, fear of the unknown, disinformation, distrust of leadership, hypocrisy derived from systems of oppression… I could think of no better way to describe the last year in America.

Twenty years ago, I was working to complete my first year of undergraduate study, and as I reflect back on that period in my life, I remember just how hard it was to navigate the transition to college and adulthood while gaining strikingly new freedoms and responsibilities.

When I observe the experiences of my students over this tumultuous year, I’m deeply moved by the magnitude of additional challenges they have faced. From all of the restraints brought upon by the pandemic to the sheer reality of living in the digital social media age, every aspect of their transition to college has been moderated by screens and devices, Zoom calls and group chats, masks and restrictions, pictures and emojis, distance and isolation. While keeping us digitally connected, they also reduce our humanity and block true connection.

Negotiating these liminal spaces has always been tough for young people - finding and claiming your identity and values, finding your community and friend circle, while simultaneously identifying and pursuing your passions and goals, has never been a smooth or simple process. But I can only imagine what it’s like to do it through an app.

Our meditation on the trials of youth in our SPRING AWAKENING carves out space for both of these narratives - in the scenes, Sater’s redux of Wedekind’s German kids and their “children’s tragedy,” and through the songs, the stories of our students navigating their own challenges during this unprecedented year.

Athens, Ohio is not only home to Ohio University, the oldest university in the state founded in 1804, but also to The Ridges, formerly the Athens Lunatic Asylum which operated from 1874-1993. Featuring High Victorian Gothic architecture and a sprawling hilltop property overlooking the university campus, one could easily picture Wedekind’s characters living and learning on these grounds.

Indeed, as we dance and sing in their auditorium and hillsides and cemeteries, we feel the spirits of the former inhabitants and sing their songs of struggle and angst, joy and salvation. Just as we tell the story of Wendla, Melchior and Moritz then, we also acknowledge that history is doomed to repeat itself again and again, and to encourage change now, we must first bear witness.

Alan Patrick Kenny Spring 2021

(in alphabetical order)

Fräulein Großebüstenhalter, Father Kaulbach, Frau Bessell................................ BURGESS BYRD*

Reinhold................................................................................................... CHRISTOPHER DUCLOS

Ulbrecht................................................................................................................ HOLDEN EVANS

Otto......................................................................................................................... DANIEL CAGLE

Ernst............................................................................................................................ RHYS CARR

Ilse.............................................................................................................................. LOZZA COLE

Wendla................................................................................................................. MEGAN COLLINA

Fräulein Knuppeldick, Schmidt...................................................................... SHELLEY DELANEY*

Herr Neumann, Herr Stiefel............................................................................. DANIEL C. DENNIS*

Doctor Von Brausepulver, Herr Knochenbruch........................................................... KEN EARLY*

Herr Gabor, Herr Rilow, Herr Sonnenstich.................................................... BRIAN DAVID EVANS*

Dieter.................................................................................................................. FORREST HAASL

Hanschen............................................................................................................. SEAN MCGLYNN

Frau Bergman, Frau Gabor.......................................................................... KELLY MENGELKOCH*

Georg................................................................................................................... NATHAN NAPOLI

Rupert........................................................................................................................ TIMOTHY OH

Melchior.................................................................................................................... TOMMY PAGE

Thea......................................................................................................................... SARAH RILEY

Martha.............................................................................................................. TAYLOR ROBERTS

Anna........................................................................................................... GENEVIÈVE SHAFTEL

Moritz....................................................................................................................... ROBBY YOHO

Ensemble..................................... CAROLINE DONATO, CHRISTOPHER DUCLOS, HOLDEN EVANS,
                                                                                FORREST HAASL, ADRIANA HOLST, LAUREN JANOSCHKA,                                                                                                 JULIA KUZMICH, BRADLEY NOLAN, TIMOTHY OH,
                                                                                                 ANNA RAMBO, OLIVER RUNYON, MOLLY TUCKER

UNDERSTUDIES

For Wendla: CAROLINE DONATO; for Ilse: ADRIANA HOLST; for Thea: MOLLY TUCKER; for Martha: LAUREN JANOSCHKA; for Anna: JULIA KUZMICH; for Otto: FORREST HAASL; for Hanschen: TIM OH; for Ernst: CHRISTOPHER DUCLOS; for Georg: BRADLEY NOLAN; for Moritz: OLIVER RUNYON; for Melchior: HOLDEN EVANS.

SWINGANNA RAMBO

DANCE CAPTAINJULIA KUZMICH

THEN	NOW
The play is set in a provincial German town in 1891.	The songs are set on the campus of Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, in 2021.

ACT ONE

­­­"Mama Who Bore Me".......................................................................................................... Wendla

"Mama Who Bore Me" (Reprise).................................................. Wendla, Anna, Ilse, Martha, Thea

“All That’s Known”.............................................................................................................. Melchior

“The Bitch of Living”..............................Moritz, Georg, Ernst, Hanschen, Otto, Melchior, Ensemble

“My Junk”.......................................................................................................................... Students

“Touch Me”........................................................................................................................ Students

“The Word of Your Body”..................................................................................... Wendla, Melchior

“The Dark I Know Well”............................................................................... Martha, Ilse, Ensemble

“The Word of Your Body” (Reprise 1)............................................................................ Otto, Georg

“And Then There Were None”.............................................. Moritz, Hanschen, Otto, Ernst, Georg

“The Mirror – Blue Night”................................ Melchior, Hanschen, Otto, Ernst, Georg, Ensemble

“I Believe”....................................................................................................................... Students

THERE WILL BE ONE 10-MINUTE INTERMISSION.

ACT TWO

“The Guilty Ones”.................................................................................. Wendla, Melchior, Students

“Don’t Do Sadness”................................................................................................................. Moritz

“Blue Wind................................................................................................................................... Ilse

“Left Behind”....................................................................................................... Melchior, Students

“Totally Fucked”.................................................................................................. Melchior, Students

“The Word of Your Body” (Reprise 2)...................................................................... Hanschen, Ernst

“Whispering”......................................................................................................... Wendla, Melchior

“Those You’ve Known”.............................................................................. Moritz, Wendla, Melchior

“The Song of Purple Summer”............................................................................................ Students

Director............................................................................................................ Alan Patrick Kenny

Choreographer......................................................................................................... Kellen Stancil

Music Director....................................................................................................... Brent Frederick

Scenic Designer................................................................................................. Christopher Rees

Costume Designer................................................................................................ Bethany Padron

Lighting Designer......................................................................................... Jennings E. Johnson

Sound Designers....................................................................... Daniela Chaparro, Simon Marland

Director of Photography................................................................................ Anastasiia Kulikalova

Actors’ Equity Association Stage Manager................................................................ Jean Egdorf*

Stage Manager................................................................................................................... Fior Tat

Associate Directors............................................................... Corey Ragan, Sarah Elizabeth Yorke

Intimacy Director........................................................................................................ Emily Penick

Video Editor – Scenes............................................................................................ Jeremy Bessoff

Video Editor – Songs....................................................................................................... Willis Hao

Music Producer...................................................................................................... Brent Frederick

Dramaturg...................................................................................................... Tyler Everett Adams

Technical Directors................................................................................ Baz Wenger, Mary Atchley

Prop Master..................................................................................................................... Islay Reed

Charge Scenic Artist ............................................................................................... Brigitte Bechtel

Costume Shop Manager ........................................................................................ Margaret Caster

Master Electrician....................................................................................................... Jenny Martin

Sound Engineer...................................................................................................... Matthew Dugan

Dance Captain ...................... ............................................................... ...................... Julia Kuzmich

Assistant Music Director..................................................................................... Lauren Janoschka

Assistant Costume Designer.................................................................................. Jennifer Lothian

Assistant Costume Shop Manager........................................................................ Ashley Rutkowski

Assistant Lighting Designer......................................................................................... Caitlin Brown

Assistant Master Electrician...................................................................................... Andres Moledo

Assistant Stage Managers.......................................................... Kyrsten Mazzaferro, Melanie Walls

Assistant Dramaturgs.................................................................... Madeline Hammons, Katie Leeds

Technical Direction Supervisor..................................................................................... Arne Johnson

Assistant Production Manager............................................................................... Roberto Di Donato

Production Assistant.............................................................................................. Beatrice Feldbush

Assistants to Ken Early
Alyssa Early-McCullomAdolphus McCullom
Sharon Early-McCullom

Grips
Quintin Schomaker
Joe Tufte

Focus PullerMaxwell Williams

Drone Operators
Neil Bateman
Jake Haire

SCENE SHOP

Carpenters
Mary AtchleyMadie Hannon
Jaxon Meadows

PAINT SHOP

Carly Huff, Lead Scenic Artist    

Scenic Artists
Caroline PattersonAlex Pio
Chris Rees

PROP SHOP

Prop Artisans
Nick Bartleson
Gina Boccolucci
Duck Bracey
Alyssa Embry
Julia Lisowski
Logan Thompson

COSTUME SHOP

DraperBethany Padron

WARDROBE

Jasper Uldrick, Wardrobe SupervisorSam Heilhecker, Wardrobe Assistant

ELECTRIC SHOP

Alejandro Ridolfi, Electric Shop Manager
Gabriel Hrin, Undergrad Shop Manager

Lighting Crew
Chuck Gidden

SOUND SHOP

Simon Marland, Sound Shop Manager

Sound Crew
Angela-Joy Baldesare
Dani Chaparro
Abagail Coppock
Harper Justus
Simon Marland
Oliver Runyon
Mason Sams

Burgess Byrd* (Fräulein Großebüstenhalter, Father Kaulbach,Frau Bessell) [she/her/they] Guest Artist. Select Credits: Skeleton Crew (Faye), Detroit ’67 (Bunny), This Random World (Bernadette), Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Gloria: A Life (Ensemble), Human Race Theatre, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Tillie) , Raisin In The Sun (Lena), Merchant of Venice (Shylock). Guest Artist/University of Texas/Austin, Pretty Fire/Neat (Charlayne), Know Theatre Cincinnati , Caroline or Change (Washing Machine), New Stage Collective Silence, The Musical (Ardelia) Falcon Theatre, Caroline or Change (Washing Machine), New Stage Collective , Doubt (Mrs.Muller), The Drama Workshop, Avenue Q (Gary) Showbiz Players.

Christopher DuClos (Reinhold/Ensemble/Ernst Understudy) [they/them/he/him] BFA, Musical Theatre, First Year. Ohio University and Tantrum Theater debut. Other: Merrily We Roll Along (Frank), Guys and Dolls (Benny), My Fair Lady (Ensemble) Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, A Chorus Line (Ensemble/Swing) Apex Theatre Studio.

Holden Evans (Ulbrecht/Ensemble/Melchior Understudy) BFA, Musical Theater, Second Year. Ohio University: Eighty-Sixed (BJ Rosenthal) Tantrum Theater, Angels in America Millennium Approaches (Joe Pitt). Other: Roundtown Players, Dramatic Braves.

Daniel Cagle (Otto) BFA, Acting, Third Year. Ohio University: Perfect Arrangement (Theodore Sunderson). Other: This is Not What I Expected When I Imagined a Republic (Graham) Tantrum Theater.

Rhys Carr (Ernst) [he/him] Caribbean American. BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Ohio University:  Eighty-Sixed  (Dennis),  People, Places and Things  (Ensemble). Film:  An Iliad  (Voice C). Broadway World Next On Stage: Dance Edition 2nd place winner. Co-Community Outreach & Engagement Coordinator for Vibrancy Theater vibrancytheater.com .

Lozza Cole (Ilse) BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Ohio University: People, Places & Things (Ensemble). Ohio University School of Film: Exodus (Sparrow); Embrace (Alison); Absolution (Lucy). Other: Cabaret (Sally Bowles) Performing Arts San Antonio; Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie) Performing Arts San Antonio; Lozza worked for Six Flags Fiesta Texas Entertainment on a singer/dancer track for three years. Lozza received the Joe Salek scholarship for performance and was recently awarded the playwrighting scholarship from the Overtime Theater.

Megan Collina (Wendla) BFA, Musical Theater, Second Year. Ohio University: People Places and Things (ensemble)

Shelley Delaney* (Fraulein Knuppeldick/Schmidt) Acting credits include work at Tantrum Theater, McCarter, Bay Street, Cincinnati Playhouse, Victory Gardens, GeVa, Cleveland Play House, Capital Rep, Delaware Theatre Company, La Mama, the Ohio, EST and HERE. Films include  Radio Days , Departure, Claire in Motion ,  Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Hero Tomorrow . Recent directing credits: The Surrogate by Patricia Cotter (Centenary Stage), The Cake (Tantrum Theater) and the short film Truck Fishing in America .

Daniel C. Dennis* (Herr Neumann/Herr Stiefel) is a performance faculty member and Head of the BA Theater program in the School of Theater. Ohio University: As You Like It (Duke Senior). Other: Seattle Children’s Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Repertory, Village Theatre, Seattle Opera, UMO Ensemble, West of Lenin, and others. Dan has toured shows in Kenya, South Korea, Spain, and throughout the U.S. He holds an MFA in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts from Ohio University.

Ken Early* (Doctor Von Brausepulver/Herr Knochenbruch) Is honored to be a part of this virtual production of Spring Awakening. He was last seen in Pipeline ( Xavier)  at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. Some of his other professional credits include Once on this Island ( Armand ); Misery ( Sheriff ) at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Red Velvet ( Ira ); The Whipping Man ( Simon ) at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Macbeth ( King Ducan ); Guess Who's Coming to Dinner ( John Prentice Sr. ) at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and On Golden Pond ( Bill Ray ) at The Human Race Theatre in Dayton, Ohio.

Brian David Evans* (Herr Gabor/Herr Rilow/Herr Sonnenstich) Brian has performed at theaters including South Coast Repertory, Tantrum Theater, Human Race Theatre, Greenbrier Valley Theatre, CATCO, Porthouse Theatre, and the Colorado, Illinois, and Oxford Shakespeare Festivals.  Film and Television credits include Chapelle’s Show , Judging Amy and Claire in Motion .  Brian teaches at Ohio University and is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework and a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Forrest Haasl (Dieter/Ensemble/Otto Understudy) BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Ohio University: Eighty-Sixed (Ensemble/Carlo). Other: Ghost the Musical (Ensemble/Priest/Orlando), Mamma Mia (Pepper) August 2021 Rock River Repertory Theatre Company.

Sean McGlynn (Hanschen) [he/him/they/them] BFA, Musical Theatre, First Year. Ohio University and Tantrum Theater debut. Other: Chicago (Billy Flynn) Aligning Stars Theatre, Beauty and the Beast (Beast) Stoughton High School, Anything Goes (Lord Evelyn Oakleigh) School District of Jainsville.

Kelly Mengelkoch* (Frau Bergman/Frau Gabor) Theatre (most recent): Alabaster (Alice) Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Fortune (Maude) Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, A Christmas Carol (Mrs. Cratchit) Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, August: Osage County (Ivy) Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Miss Holmes (Sherlock) Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Macbeth (Lady Macbeth) Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, A Winter’s Tale (Hermione) Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.  Film: Dark Waters, Perception, Old Man and the Gun, A Kind of Murder, Healing River, Dusk, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America.

Nathan Napoli (Georg)

Timothy Oh (Rupert/Ensemble/Hanschen Understudy)  BFA, Acting, Second Year. Other:  Newsies (Ensemble),  Legally Blonde  (Kyle) Geauga Lyric Theater. 

Tommy Page (Melchior) BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Ohio University: Eighty-Sixed (Zach/Man 1). Other: North Country Community Theatre, Youtheatre.

Sarah Riley (Thea) BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Ohio University Debut. Other: Carrie (Chris) Straw Hat Theater, Grease (Sandy) G.B Theatre, Children of Eden (Aphra) G.B Theatre, The Addams Family ( Wednesday Addams) G.B Theatre.

Taylor Roberts (Martha) [She/Her/Hers] BFA, Acting, Third Year. Ohio University:  This is Not What I Expected When I Imagined a Republic  (Nes),  Absentia  (Ester/Neo). Academy for the Performing Arts:  Peter & the Starcatcher  (Slank),  The Actor's Nightmare  (Meg),  Ragtime  (Harlem Ensemble),  Julius Caesar  (Ligarius).

Geneviève Shaftel (Anna) [she/her/hers] BFA, Musical Theatre, First Year. Ohio University and Tantrum Theater debut. Other: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Marie), Almost Maine (Marvalyn) Hopewell Valley Central High School, Broadway Back to School (Soloist) Educational Theatre Foundation, Bright Star (Featured Ensemble) Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute.

Robby Yoho (Moritz) [he/him] BFA, Musical Theater, Second Year. Ohio University: She Kills Monsters (Puppeteer), Eighty-Sixed (Richard). Other: Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour) Comtra Cultural Center, Promises, Promises (Various) The Confidential Project. Television: I Am Not Okay With This (Featured Extra) Netflix.

Caroline Donato (Ensemble/Wendla Understudy) BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Ohio University: The Women of Lockerbie (Woman 1). Other: Greensboro Performing Arts.

Adriana Holst (Ensemble/Ilse Understudy) [she/her/hers] BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Konneker Cutler Scholar. Theatre:  Heathers  (Heather Chandler),  Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre). Concerts: Broadway Kids (54 Below), Iconica (Playhouse Square). Founder of music literacy non-profit Grant a Guitar grantaguitar.org .

Lauren Janoschka (Ensemble/Martha Understudy) BFA, Musical Theater, Second Year. Ohio University: People, Places, and Things (Laura). Other: Little Women (Amy) Digital Workshop Production.

Julia Kuzmich (Ensemble/Anna Understudy) [she/her/hers] BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Ohio University: People Places and Things (Ensemble). Other: Sacramento River Train, The Fairy Godmother Events. Film: Here Me Not by Eve Zhao (Chloe), Daughter by Lindsey Martin and Kass Richards (Daughter).

Bradley Nolan (Ensemble/Georg Understudy) BFA, Musical Theater, First Year. Ohio University and Tantrum Theater debut. Other: Legally Blond (Emmett), The Full Monty (Nathan), The Strand (Young Willie), Footloose (Willard), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Puck).

Anna Rambo (Ensemble/Swing) BFA, Musical Theatre, Second Year. Other: Legally Blonde (Elle) Wellington School, Legally Blonde (Vivienne/Swing) Ohio University Lancaster Theatre, Little Women (Jo U/S) The Manhattan School of Music, Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey) Wellington School, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena) Wellington School.

Oliver Runyon (Ensemble/Moritz Understudy) BFA, Musical Theater, Second Year. Ohio University: People, Places & Things (Konstantin/Shaun). Other: 86ed (Harry) Tantrum Theater, Hand to God (Jason/Tyrone) Lost Flamingo Theatre Company, Carrie (Tommy) All-Ohio Company, and Spring Awakening (Melchior) Columbus Children’s Theatre.

Molly Tucker (Ensemble/Thea Understudy) Honors Tutorial College BFA, Musical Theater, Second Year. Other: Six Flags Over Georgia Entertainment, The Legacy Theater Atlanta GA.

Alan Patrick Kenny (director) Assistant Professor and Head of Musical Theater. Ohio University:  Sibyl  (Director),  Cabaret  (Music Director). Tantrum Theater:  Eighty-Sixed  (Music Director), Spring 2021;  Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812  (Director). Other: Utah Shakespeare Festival, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Cincinnati Playhouse, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, The Carnegie, New Sage Collective (co-founder/Producing Artistic Director). Academic: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (Associate Professor and BFA Musical Theater Program Coordinator). BM Vocal Performance – Music Theatre: NYU. MFA Directing: UCLA.  alanpatrickkenny.com

Kellen Stancil (Choreographer)  New York Artist. Broadway:  Disney’s The Lion King  (Dance Captain), Vegas:  Cirque Du Soleil’s Viva Elvis & Franco Dragone’s Le Reve . Audition Choreographer:  Celebrity Cruises ,  Disney Cruise Lines  &  Walt Disney World . Television credits:  Victoria Secret Fashion Show (CBS) ,  So You Think You Can Dance (FOX) , &  MET Gala 2019 . Others: Live Nation Presents:  Coco & The Vanity Vixens  (Director/Choreographer), Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids (Choreographer), Celebrity Cruises:  Soundtrack  (Director/Choreographer)

Brent Frederick (Music Director and Music Producer)  Assistant Professor of Instruction in Ohio University’s Schools of Theater and Music and the Music Director for the BFA Musical Theater program. Tantrum Theater debut. Selected Broadway:  Kinky Boots  (Conductor, Keyboards),  The Band’s Visit  (Conductor, Keyboards),  Dr. Zhivago  (Keyboards). Selected National Tours:  Priscilla Queen of the Desert  (Music Director). Recent studio recording: Jacqueline Petroccia’s double EP Champagne & Moonshine (Producer, Arranger, Orchestrator, Keyboards). BM in Music Education from Shenandoah Conservatory.  www.BrentFrederickMusic.com

Christopher Rees (Scenic Designer)  MFA, Scenic Design, Second Year. Ohio University (Scenic Designer):  Women of Lockerbie ,  Effective Magic ,  Silent Sky  (Lead Scenic Artist) Other (Scenic Designer): Tantrum Theater:  The Great Comet of 1812 . West Liberty University:  The Secret in the Wings ,  18 Victoria . Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center:  Matilda The Musical  (Carpenter/Technician). Theater West Virginia:  Willy Wonka Jr.  (Technical Director)  Rocket Boys the Musical  (Technical Director).

Jennings E. Johnson (Lighting Designer) MFA Lighting Design 3 ^rd  Year. Ohio University (Lighting Designer):  People, Places, and Things, Rhinoceros.  Ohio University (Assistant Lighting Designer):  Romeo & Juliet, Cabaret, You Can’t Take It with You , Indiana Repertory Theatre,  The Winter’s Tale , Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Other: Glimmerglass Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

Daniela Chaparro (Co-Sound Designer) MFA, Sound Design, Second Year. Ohio University  People, Places & Things  (Sound Designer) , This is Not What I Expected When I Imagined a Republic ( Assistant Sound Designer) .  Other:  Vinegar Tom  (Co-Sound Designer) Shotgun Players,  Kill Move Paradise  (Assistant Sound Designer) Shotgun Players. Fall 2021:  Absentia  (Sound Designer) ,  Spring 2022:  Everybody  (Sound Designer) They have a double BA from UC San Diego.

Simon Marland (Co-Sound Designer)  MFA, Production Design, First Year. Ohio University: Sound Shop Manager,  Spring Awakening  (co-Sound Designer) Fall 2021  Summer and  Smoke (Sound Designer) Jazz Compositions:  Overture to a Night of Dancing  (2020),  Of the Stars and the Sea  (2019),  Soul Vacation  (2019) ,  Choral Compositions:  Give Up the Stars  (2019) , Silence  (2020) Other: Endstation Theatre, Horn in the West. Website:  simon-marland.squarespace.com

Anastasiia Kulikalova (Director of Photography) MFA , ​​ Cinematographer/Gaffer, Third Year. Ohio University (Cinematographer):  Spring Awakening ,  Maggie Sturr ,  An Iliad ,  Escape the Dungeon, Contingency ,  The G.O.A.T. ,  Last Delivery .  Buoyancy of Love  (gaffer),  Blue Joe  (gaffer),  Mother of Two  (camera assistant),  Post Post Scriptum  (director)

Jean Egdorf* (Actors’ Equity Stage Manager)  [she/her/hers] is a stage manager, freelance dramaturg, and playwright, with a career-long focus in new work development. Previous stage management credits include:  This Is Not What I Expected When I Imagined a Republic  and  The Cake , Tantrum Theater; LOCAL Theater Company’s  LOCAL LAB New Play Festival , 2014-2017; Creede Repertory Theatre’s 2012-2017 Seasons; Well Orchestrated Madness’ world-premiere musical,  I AM ALIVE,  by Emmy-Award winning composer Denise Gentilini and Singer-Songwriter Lisa Nemzo, 2015-2016. MFA in Playwriting: Ohio University.

Fior Tat (Assistant Stage Manager) [she/her/hers] OU Alum 2020. Ohio University (Stage Manager):  She Kills Monsters ,  Big Love, Time to Think, The Defiance of Dandelions . (Assistant Stage Manager) Ohio University:  Romeo & Juliet ,  The Wolves ,  Top Girls ,  Glengarry Glen Ross ; Richmond Shakespeare Festival, Hamlet; Tantrum Theater, Next to Normal .

Corey Ragan (Associate Director)  MFA, Director, Third Year. Ohio University:   People, Places, & Things ,  Big Love ,  Engagements; (Assistant Director); She Kills Monsters, Cabaret.   Other:  The Mad Ones  Lab: Section 5-  Top Ten , Tantrum Theater & MTF:  Eighty-Sixed  (Assistant Director), Co-Founder & Artistic Director Endeavor Theatre:  Young Americans or Stargirl Was Here, Monsters on the Bus, Crystal Farms

Sarah Elizabeth Yorke (Associate Director)  MFA Director, Second Year. Ohio University:  Summer and Smoke  (Fall 2021),  Angels in America: Millennium Approaches ,  Perfect Arrangement ,  Silent Sky  (Assistant Director), Tantrum Theater:  Objects in the Mirror  (Assistant Director) Self-Produced: Heather Chrisler’s  Little Women , Schuylkill Free Shakespeare:  Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead , Majestic Theatre:  Fun Home , Pennsylvania Youth Theatre:  The Little Mermaid .

Emily Penick (Intimacy Director)  is a NYC-based Director/Choreographer specializing in new work. Her commitment to creating safe rehearsal and production environments is reflected in both her fight choreography and intimacy direction. Favorite intimacy choreography credits include  PILGRIMS  (Forward Flux Productions), and  OTHELLO  (Seattle Shakespeare Company). Emily is the founding artistic director of RED STAGE, which connects early career artists with resources.  emilypenick.com redstage.org

Jeremy Bessoff (Video Editor - Scenes)  MFA, Animator, Editor, Educator. His animated and experimental films have screened both nationally and internationally.

Willis Hao (Video Editor - Songs) BA, Theatre and Dance Studies, Emory University. Ohio University:  This is Not What I Expected When I Imagined a Republic  (Video Editor). Other: Alliance Theatre,  Human Voice  (Solo Male Lead) Emory University,  Spring Awakening  (Moritz) Emory University,  La Cage aux Folles  (Cagelle),  Men With Money  (Ensemble) Aurora Theatre.

Islay Reed (Props Master) MFA, Props Technology, Third Year. Ohio University:  She Kills Monsters  (Props Master). Ohio University (Artisan):  Rhinoceros ,  Silent Sky ,  Romeo and Juliet, The Wolves, Cabaret .  Holly Down in Heaven  (Asst. Props Master). Other: Pacific Conservatory Theatre. BFA, Kent State University.

Michael Lincoln (Artistic Director) Michael was instrumental in the creation of Tantrum Theater and became Artistic Director in 2018 . He began teaching at Ohio University in 2003, served as Director of the School of Theater from 2012 to 2020, and is now Professor Emeritus of Theater. Previously Michael taught for New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the University of Southern California. His professional lighting design career numbers over 300 productions in theatre, opera and dance and includes Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional, and international venues. Highlights: Copenhagen on Broadway, The Bubbly Black Girl… at Playwrights Horizons in NYC, A Streetcar Named Desire for the Cleveland Play House and Tantrum Theater’s Next to Normal , Caroline, Or Change and Little Shop of Horrors . Michael’s regional credits include long relationships with Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre in Houston, and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC as well as multi-year associations with Los Angeles Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and Santa Fe Opera. His multiple Broadway credits as an Associate Designer include hit revivals of Guys and Dolls and Anything Goes and original productions of City of Angels , Six Degrees of Separation , and Lend Me a Tenor . www.michaellincoln.net

Josh Coy (Interim Producing Director) Josh is an arts administrator, arts advocate, and performer whose most recent administrative roles prior to joining Tantrum include Executive Director of the Wayne Center for the Arts, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Presenters Network, and Director of Artists Programs at the Ohio Arts Council. For the past decade, his primary performance outlet has been as a banjo player across the Ohio valley region, and previous favorite theatrical roles include Seymour ( Little Shop of Horrors ), Feste ( Twelfth Night ), Uncle Jack ( Dancing at Lughnasa ), and Edmund ( Long Day’s Journey into Night ). He holds an MA in Arts Policy and Administration from The Ohio State University, a BA in Theatre from Westminster College (PA), and is currently pursuing an MA in Theater at Ohio University.

Rebecca VerNooy (Director of Education) is a movement theatre artist, actress, and educator. Her early solo work was produced at Dixon Place, P.S. 122, and the Judson Church. She was the Artistic Director of VerNooy Dance Theatre from 1995–2006, developing and performing original work at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Dance Theatre workshop, Joyce Soho, and many other NYC venues. Her one-woman show,  Across Time , premiered at The United Solo Festival in New York (November, 2012), and won the award for “best movement.” Ms. VerNooy has spent twenty years creating her own brand of physical theatre and facilitating workshops designed to generate new theatrical work. She ran the Intern Program and an Acting/Writing Lab at E.S.T. from 1996–2001, directing and producing over a dozen evenings of new work by emerging theatre artists. Her most recent plays include  Here, Somewhere  (2014) and  Elbows off the Table  (2015). Rebecca is the founder of The Movement Educator’s Research Group (MERGE), a collaborative research group for movement educators across the country. She has a BA in performance from Hampshire College and a master’s degree from The Gallatin School at New York University. She is currently a faculty member in Ohio University’s School of Theater, and a founding member of Brick Monkey Theatre Ensemble.

Shelley Delaney (Associate Artistic Director)headed the Performance Area at the Ohio University School of Theater through 2020. For Tantrum Theater, she’s acted in Spring Awakening and Tammy Faye’s Final Audition and directed The Cake by Becca Brunstetter. Additional acting credits include work at McCarter Theatre, Bay Street, Cincinnati Playhouse, Victory Gardens, GeVa, Capital Rep, Delaware Theatre Company, Dorset Theater Festival, La Mama, the Ohio, EST and HERE. Her film work includes Radio Days and the independent feature films:  Departure , Claire in Motion ,  Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Hero Tomorrow . Recent directing credits include: Silent Sky (OU School of Theater), the world premiere of The Surrogate by Patricia Cotter (Centenary Stage) and the short film Truck Fishing in America . Shelley is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, SAG/AFTRA and the National Alliance of Acting Teachers.

Jeanette Buck (Production Manager) is an award-winning independent artist working in film and theater. She has written, stage managed, and directed for film and theater. She has taught stage management, directing, playwriting, and screenwriting at Ohio University, and stage management and acting and directing for the camera at Georgetown University. As a DC based Equity stage manager, Jeanette has stage managed at the Kennedy Center, Theater J, Mosaic Theater, Studio Theater, Woolly Mammoth and Horizons Theater as well as regionally in Hartford and San Francisco. During her career she has staged managed regionally for music festivals, worked as the Associate Producer for Theater J and as the Director of Production at the National Council for the Traditional Arts. Her film directing credits include:  Heather Has Four Moms  (shortlisted by the Kevin Spacey Foundation),  Texting a Love Story, Kiss on the Bosphorus, Lie Together ,  In the Menstrual Hut  and the feature  Out of Season.  As a playwright, her one woman show  There Are No Strangers  premiered at Theater J in Washington D.C. and was later performed at The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Her theater directing credits:  Beautiful Thing, Rowing to America ,  Miracles ,  Gretty Good Time ,  Father John does a Hail Mary , and  Open Hearts .

Brigitte Bechtel (Scenic Charge Artist and Paint Shop Supervisor) is a professional scenic artist. She and her paintbrushes have collaborated with Cobalt Studios, The Cape Playhouse, Emerson College, Mystic Scenic Studios, Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and Arizona Theatre Company, to name a few. She earned a MFA in Production Design with an emphasis in Scenic and Costume Design from Michigan State University. A portfolio of her work may be viewed at  www.brigittebechtel.com .

Arnold Johnson (Assistant Technical Director) is Assistant Technical Director for Tantrum Theater and the School of Theater at Ohio University, relocated from California with a diverse artistic and industrial background in theater, education and specialty construction shops. Arne worked in theater intermittently for thirty-five years in prop shops, scene shops and design studios, where he drafted, designed and constructed.  He’s an accomplished scenic sculptor specializing in large carved forms and specialty construction projects. In addition to theater he worked in many different construction shops learning a wide variety of materials and techniques including; decorative Victorian mill-work, 3D printing and silicone mold making, bronze casting and 3D modeling for virtual and augmented realities. He earned his BA in Studio Art in sculpture at Humboldt State University and his MFA In Studio Art in sculpture and digital media from University of California at Santa Barbara. Arnold has university courses in: traditional animation, 3D modeling and animation, art history, sculpture, and wood and metal fabrication/ construction. His recent artistic works are investigating 3D printing, laser cutting, and experimenting with biodegradable and recycled materials.

Ledger Free (Audience Services Coordinator) Audience Services Coordinator for the School of Theater, Tantrum Theater, and Arts For Ohio.

Drew Surovjak (Administrative Associate) Drew joined the School of Theater in July of 2015 as the Administrative Associate and thoroughly enjoys his supportive role in assisting administrators, faculty, staff, and students navigate through academia. He was born and raised on the shores of Lake Erie and came to the region in 2008 to attend Hocking College. Something about the hills resonated with him and while he misses seeing the lake every day, he feels very at home in the hills of Southeast Ohio. Drew has had quite the meandering path up to this point and it looks to meander further. He has earned two associate’s degrees, one in business with a focus in banking and finance and another in ecotourism and adventure travel. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Specialized Studies focusing on outdoor recreation, sustainability, and anthropology and aspires to continue through grad school and eventually teach outdoor recreation at the collegiate level, sharing his passion for the environment and the responsible enjoyment of it. Prior to joining the School of Theater, Drew walked in many different shoes and wore many different hats. He has spent time as a cook, a banker, an account representative for a large advertising firm, a custom woodworker, an adventure guide, and even a field station manager in the remote rainforest of southern Belize. In his personal life, he enjoys camping, reading, hiking, woodworking, gardening, throwing darts, working on his house, spending time with family and friends, and is happiest in a canoe with a paddle in his hands.

School of Theater Faculty & Staff
Arts For Ohio
The SHAPe Clinic
Ethan Hess
Federal Valley Resource Center
D. Lynn Meyers
Emily Prince
Josh Antonuccio, Director, School of Media Arts and Studies, Ohio University
Olivia Vessel
Molly Tiede-Schroer
Charles Smith
Steve Wood
Aisha Mahon
Therese Lackey
School of Theater students in Performance and Production, Design and Technology who stuck with us, as we learned by trial and many errors, how to make a movie musical.

Spring Awakening is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All Authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, New York, NY. Tel: 212-541-4684. Fax: 212-397-4684. www.mtishows.com

The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.