About Spring Awakening
"a unique and wonderful experience, not to be missed." - Roverarts.com

SPECIAL THANKS INDIEGOGO SUPPORTERS!

Ryan Stotland
Pamela Perrotti
Christopher Moore
Julia Borsellino
Bill Fletcher
Pepita Capriolo
Sandra Hunt
Paula O'Connor
Nat Bartosek
Joseph Ste. Marie

INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN

IN THE MEDIA

Hitting all the right notes

Spring Awakening, Centre Calixa Lavallée, to Oct 27

by ANNA FUERSTENBERG for Roverarts.com
19.10.2013


It is terrific to watch fourteen, yes count them, fourteen young actors singing their hearts out. And that’s just the cast; they share the stage with a seven piece orchestra on a minimal set at Calixa Lavallée in the middle of Parc Lafontaine. Just for historical context, it is amusing to see the play that influenced some of the most important playwrights of the twentieth century and was censored in so many countries.

The story  starts with a delightfully heart breaking scene in which the female lead (Gab Lubin as Wendla) cannot get her mother to tell her the most basic facts of life. The curtain riser is very unusual as it is this character’s plaintive cry for more reproductive information from the woman who bore her. The play has every kind of sexuality on the menu, and quite creatively deals with the angst and frustration of being an adolescent in the Weimar Republic. The issues — parental sexual abuse, adolescent suicide, sado-masochism, homosexuality, and abortion — are as pertinent today as they were then, if somewhat less shocking.

There is some terrific choreography (by Alexia Gourd), particularly the dance around the song about being f—ed no matter what you do. The sheer passion on stage is a delight. Zachary Creatchman as Melchior gives a really great performance and is up to the complexity of the leading character. It would have served his performance much better if he had not kneeled (downstage left) during one of the most emotional moments of the play, hiding his face from most of the audience. But he is not to blame for the blocking.

The choice of giving all the actors hand mikes also creates moments of awkwardness. The orchestra is really good and it is unclear why their music sometimes drowns out the singing, as lyrics are very crucial to this play. It might have served the drama better if the orchestra were just three pieces and the singers could sing over them.

Marie-Pierre de Brienne gives a remarkable performance as Ilse. Alexandra Ghezzi is terrific in all the adult female parts and Alexander Goldrich really nails all the male adults, and especially the father of the tragic Moritz. Adam Capriolo is wonderful in the dual parts of Hanschen and Rupert, managing to wrest comedy out of awkwardness.

There is much to be said for a truly committed ensemble cast doing a fabulously interesting piece of theatre. It is fortunate that we have Persephone Productions in this town to take such huge bites and attempt such marvelous plays. I recommend it as a unique and wonderful experience, not to be missed.

Spring Awakening

October 17th – 27th

Calixa-Lavallée Cultural Center (3819, rue Calixa-Lavallée)

$30 Regular / $25 QDF, Seniors, Adult Groups / $20 Students

Persephone's First Blog Entry!
New Beginnings
by Christopher Moore (Artistic Director)

Most people know that Gabrielle Soskin was my first year acting teacher at John Abbott College. What most people don’t know about me is before that year my theatrical education consisted of a play that current Repercussion Theatre director, Amanda Kellock brought to my high school. A side note: go see Shakespeare in the Park’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (finishing this weekend).

All this to say, I didn’t know anything about theatre and it was in that first year at John Abbott with Gabrielle that I saw my first proper play at The Segal Center: “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. I remember being moved and in the subsequent months I abandoned my previously conceived notions of movie stardom and realized my passion was for the theatre.

After leaving Abbott, Persephone Productions provided me with my first paid gig. I was cast in “Spring Awakening” by Frank Wedekind and went on to appear in several subsequent Persephone shows. Seeing as how “Spring Awakening” meant so much to me it seemed quite fitting that in the second phase of Persephone’s life, we celebrate it by producing the adapted Broadway Musical version of “Spring Awakening” this Fall as my inaugural show. 

It has been over a decade since being introduced to Persephone Productions and I find myself aged 29, embarking on another phase of my own life as it’s Artistic Director. I have never been an Artistic Director before and have no knowledge of my father being one, or his father, or his father’s father, or my second cousins either so I don’t imagine it’s in my blood. That makes this all a very elaborate trial run and every year, if people enjoy what I’ve done and everyone agrees, I’ll do it all over again.

Truthfully, I am very lucky. At the same time, being handed a company to run is somewhat like being given a puppy at Christmas. The gift is appreciated and one feels ecstatic to have received it, but at the same time the gift comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility and work to be done. I am terrified, to be sure, but at the same time I will take this gift and work my hardest to serve the Persephone Productions that has meant and given so much to me and of course, Gabrielle, the woman who made it all possible.

I hope to see as many of you out there in the audience in my inaugural season. Last year marked one of our most exciting seasons to date, in my opinion and this year is shaping up to excel even further than that so come join us!

I have also never written a blog before and am unsure of how to end one. 

So here is a warning that it is about to end.

The end
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3819 Calixa-Lavallée
Montréal, QC
H2L 3A7 ‎