Persephone Productions
  • Home
  • The Company
    • Mission
    • Meet The Director
    • History
    • Awards
    • Notable Alumni
    • In The Press
    • Feedback
  • Past Productions
    • Blue Stockings >
      • Meet the Artists
      • Production Gallery
      • In the Press
      • Audience Feedback
    • Counting Aloud
    • Abigail/1702
    • Jerome of Sandy Cove
    • Compleat Female Stage Beauty
    • Moby Dick >
      • MD - Press Release /Communique de presse
      • Moby Dick - Production Notes
    • 2015 GALA
    • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde >
      • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Press
    • The Nisei & The Narnauks >
      • The Nisei & The Narnauks Press
    • Spring Awakening: The Musical >
      • Spring Awakening: The Musical 2014
    • Strawberries in January
    • The Walnut Tree >
      • Press Release - The Walnut Tree
    • Spring Awakening: The Musical
    • Lost: A Memoir >
      • Lost: A Memoir Press >
        • The Westmount Independent Review for Lost: A Memoir
        • The Gazette Preview for Lost: A Memoir
    • Oroonoko >
      • Oroonoko Press >
        • The Gazette Review for Oroonoko
        • The Charlebois Post Review for Oroonoko
        • The Montrealer Interview with Paul Van Dyck for Oroonoko
    • Hamlet >
      • Hamlet Press >
        • First Person Charlebois Post by Christopher for Hamlet
        • CBC Interview with Gabrielle Soskin
        • The McGill Tribune Review for Hamlet
        • The Métropolitain Review for Hamlet
        • The Senior Times Review for Hamlet
    • To Be >
      • To Be Press >
        • Mirror Review for To Be
        • Charlebois Post First Person for To Be
    • Far from the Madding Crowd >
      • Far from the Madding Crowd Press >
        • Gazette Review for FFTMC
        • Mirror Review for FFTMC
        • Gazette Preview on Christopher Moore for FFTMC
        • Charlebois Post for FFTMC
    • Mary's Wedding >
      • Mary's Wedding Press >
        • Charlebois Post Interview with Gabrielle Soskin for Mary's Wedding
        • Canadian Jewish News Preview for Mary's Wedding
        • The Mirror Preview for Mary's Wedding
        • Charlebois Post Preview for Mary's Wedding
    • Henry V >
      • Henry V Press >
        • The Suburban Preview for Henry V
        • The Gazette Review for Henry V
        • Rover Arts Report for Henry V
        • Midnight Poutine Review for Henry V
        • Coolopolis Review for Henry V
        • Rover Arts Review for Henry V
    • Ten year Anniversary Gala
    • Be My Baby >
      • Be My Baby Press >
        • Gazette Preview for Be My Baby
        • Gazette Review for Be My Baby
        • The West End Times Preview for Be My Baby
        • The Suburban Review for Be My Baby
    • Cherry Docs >
      • Cherry Docs Press >
        • The Gazette (Cherry Docs)
        • The Suburban (Cherry Docs)
        • Rover Arts (Cherry Docs)
        • Dee Arr (Cherry Docs)
        • The Canadian Jewish News (Cherry Docs)
        • HOUR (Cherry Docs)
        • The Mirror (Cherry Docs)
        • Stanstead Journal (Cherry Docs)
    • Othello >
      • Othello Press >
        • The Gazette (Othello)
        • The Concordian (Othello)
        • The Link (Othello)
        • MicGill Tribune (Othello)
        • The Westmount Independent (Othello)
        • The NDG Monitor (Othello)
    • The Love of Shakespeare's Women (2)
    • Unity 1918 >
      • Unity 1918 Press >
        • The Gazette (Unity 1918)
        • The Mirror (Unity 1918)
        • Invisible Cities Network (Unity 1918)
        • McGill Tribune (Unity 1918)
        • HOUR (Unity 1918)
    • The Love of Shakespeare's Women (1) >
      • The Love of Shakespeare's Women Press >
        • The Westmount Independent (The Loves of Shakespeare's Women)
        • The Gazette (The Loves of Shakespeare's Women)
    • To the Green Fields Beyond >
      • To The Green Fields Beyond Press >
        • The Gazette (To The Green Fields Beyond)
        • The Mirror (To The Green Fields Beyond)
    • Prodigy >
      • Prodigy Press >
        • The Gazette (Prodigy)
        • La Press (Prodigy)
        • Le Délit (Prodigy)
        • Invisible Cities Network (Prodigy)
        • McGill Tribune (Prodigy)
        • The Surban (Prodigy)
        • The Mirror (Prodigy)
        • McGill Daily (Prodigy)
    • Spring Awakening >
      • Spring Awakening Press >
        • The Gazette (Spring Awakening)
        • Prince Chameleon Press (Spring Awakening)
        • Délit (Spring Awakening)
        • Mon Theatre (Spring Awakening)
    • A Room of One's Own >
      • A Room of One's Own Press >
        • CBC Radio One (A Room of One's Own)
        • The Gazette (A Room of One's Own)
        • The Westmount Examiner (A Room of One's Own)
        • The Canadian Jewish News (A Room of One's Own)
    • SubUrbia >
      • SubUrbia Press >
        • CBC Radio One(SubUrbia)
        • The Gazette (SubUrbia)
        • Montreal Mirror (SubUrbia)
        • HOUR (SubUrbia)
        • The Suburban (SubUrbia)
        • Westmount Times (SubUrbia)
        • The Canadian Jewish News (SubUrbia)
    • Jane Eyre >
      • Jane Eyre Press >
        • The Canadian Jewish News (Jane Eyre)
        • Orcasound (Jane Eyre)
    • West
    • Kindertransport >
      • Kindertransport Press >
        • The Gazette (Kindertransport)
        • Montreal Mirror (Kindertransport)
        • The Suburban (Kindertransport)
        • The Chronicle (Kindertransport)
    • Playhouse Creatures >
      • In The Press - Playhouse Creatures
    • Anna Karenina >
      • In The Press - Anna Karenina
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Support
  • Contact
  • FR

The Adult Male(s) of "Spring Awakening: The Musical"

10/14/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name is Alex Goldrich, and if you come to see Spring Awakening later this month (and i hope that you will), you’ll be seeing me quite a bit, although I don’t play a major character.

In the program I'll be listed as “Adult Male.” In fact, I play all of the adult males in the show; I think there are about nine of them in total. I play the fathers in the story, the teachers, the doctors, the priests. As brought to life by Steven Sater’s script, Duncan Sheik’s music, and the direction of Chris Moore and Gabrielle Soskin, the world of Spring Awakening is one in which every grownup has the same face, the same voice. The young people are all different: dynamic, lively, beautiful, expressing through movement and song the thoughts and emotions that cannot be contained in mere words. The grownups do not dance. They do not sing.

This should tell you a bit about what this show has to say about the relationship between young people and adults.

It makes good sense to cast a play this way: it lets you populate your story with a variety of minor characters without needing to cast dozens of actors. It lets you introduce characters while keeping the focus where it belongs, on the young people and their stories. Naturally, though, playing nine different people presents some interesting challenges as well (such as, say, remembering who wears which pair of pants).

Since I’m playing so many different people it’s important that the audience is able to tell them apart, so the main goal for me in rehearsal has been finding ways of making each character a distinct, whole person, even if you’re only seeing them for a few minutes. As actors, we try to give each character an inner life, a personality and motivations that give them purpose and dimension. It can be both the most difficult and the most enjoyable part of being an actor, and in this show, I get to do it several times over. The goal isn't to fool you into thinking I'm nine different people, so much as just to make you believe in each of them as you encounter them.

The other big challenge this show has presented me is that, as the adults, I’m often playing the “villains” of the story. This is a play about the conflicts that arise between younger and older generations, about the ways in which adults can mislead, repress, stifle and abuse the young, and about the terrible damage that can be done to young people’s lives when those they turn to for guidance, knowledge and safety, have none to offer. You will see the story through the eyes of the young, so much so that, at times, the adults are perhaps more projections of the younger characters' perceptions than they are actual people.  As such the adults may appear as caricatures, and their actions may seem exaggeratedly uncaring or cruel – as indeed at times they are – but my hope is that there will also be a hint at something beneath the surface of each of them. Each of the adults has, I hope, a humanity and a desire to do what’s right, even when what’s right is not at all simple or clear.

Which, I guess, means they’re not so completely different from the younger generation, or from you or me.

1 Comment

    Blog Archives

    October 2019
    September 2019
    February 2015
    September 2014
    October 2013
    July 2013

    RSS Feed

Persephone Productions Inc
93, Somerville Ave.,
Westmount, Que, H3Z 1J4

CONTACT
ABOUT