‘Spring Awakening’ cast discusses beauty of show

Anyone familiar with the Tony award-winning musical Spring Awakening knows that the production isn’t the most comfortable thing to watch. Set in 19th century Germany, Spring Awakening explores the journey to adulthood and isn’t afraid to touch upon the darker side of human sexuality. The play combines rock ‘n’ roll music from Duncan Sheik (you know him as the singer behind “Barely Breathing”) and a script by Steven Sater.

Theatre Baton Rouge’s managing artistic director Jenny Ballard wanted to bring the musical to the company’s edgier Turner-Fischer City Series because she still finds its themes resonate today.

“A lot of what this play is about is what happens when people stop talking and stop listening to each other,” Ballard says. “We now live in a very impersonal society. There’s an epidemic of not being able to have that conversation. I hope this makes people think about that and inspires them to try and have a conversation.”

The show’s cast is full of local actors in their mid-20s. Nearly 40 actors auditioned for the musical.

Haley Schroeck plays Martha. “When you walked into the room [to audition] and you feel that everyone wants it as bad as you, it’s stressful,” she says. “But, I’ve never been in a production where everyone is so supportive. This cast is the best I’ve ever worked with because we’re so supportive of each other.”

Most of the cast agrees—this is the play that they loved growing up. Sarah Fruge plays Isle, and she discovered the play during high school.

“Even though it’s set in the 1890s, it was so relevant to my life,” she says. “It struck a chord and quickly became one of my favorite musicals of all-time.”

Jacob Voisin, who plays Moritz, says the characters are perfect written for the cast’s age.

“These are roles you dream of playing,” Voisin says. “It’s the one musical that gives you both incredible chances to sing awesome songs and act awesome parts. It’s a dream.”

The production is billed as R-rated. It’s not something you would bring your children to see, but Ronald Coats, who plays Hanschen and Rupert, says the audience can find something relatable and will be affected by the story.

“Everyone in our audience has, at some point, been a teenager,” Coats says. “You may not have had a strict teacher or parent, you may have had someone who didn’t talk to you. There is at least one character you can relate to. There are parts of this play that hopefully you can’t relate to, but there are others that will make you go, ‘I remember when I was 16 and that happened to me.'”

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Theatre Baton Rouge’s productions of Spring Awakening continue through Nov. 2. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. for Thursday-Saturday performances and 2 p.m. for the Sunday show. Tickets are $28 and $24 for subscribers. Group and student discounts are available. For more information, visit theatrebr.org.