‘SPRING’ MAKES ITS WAY TO MOUNT HOOD STAGE

  Shrugging off several days of snow on campus, MHCC’s musical theatre production, “Spring Awakening” has really sprung, opening its two-week run on Feb. 23.

Every character has an important part in the play, essentially a collective story of adolescence and the struggles of coping and understanding the changes that come with it. With the setting being 1800s Germany, however, the teens’ struggle to adjust while adults are unwilling to acknowledge their emotions or teach them caution is increased drastically.

The main two characters – Wendla and Melchior – show this in a way of compare and contrast.

Wendla is very innocent and even though she is curious, does not pressure anyone for answers. Melchior, on the other hand, writes a 10-page paper on sex and is welcome to share his knowledge. However, both struggle with their emotions, which leads them to making rash decisions together.

The story doesn’t just talk about safe sex. The topics of abuse and even homosexuality arise in parts of the play, which adds to the meaning since it describes what is love and what isn’t, and that love has no boundaries in terms of gender.

The second-most prevalent issue at hand is suicide. Another character, Moritz, is afraid of facing his father after failing exams at his school, and so takes his life to escape not only his shame, but the shame he believes his parents would feel.

Instead, his death leaves his parents with shame, even more so because of their lack of empathy and understanding of his situation. In the end, it’s Melchior who is blamed, since he told Moritz about sex and wrote the paper for him in the first place. And we see how rash decisions by parents to save face leads to the destruction of their own children, in some cases.

Due to practice lost to weather-related MHCC closures, the actors and crew had only the one “dress rehearsal” to pull things together since earlier sessions. Despite a few minor technical difficulties and musical mistakes, the actors were on-point with the performance, and the stage crew and orchestra did a fantastic job putting everything together.

With a spare, blank setting, the use of chalk on the walls allows for scene changes and even for the building of emotions, and I found it to be my favorite part of the set-up.

Overall, based on the final rehearsal, I’d say Spring Awakening is a show well done and well put together, despite the complications.

Again, this is a show with adult themes, not meant for the whole family, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it – either to understand yourself or relive the awkwardly frustrating moments of those days.

The show runs at 7:30 p.m. tonight and Saturday (March 2-3) and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the intimate Studio Theatre.

Advance tickets for students/staff/seniors is $10, $12 for general admission; at the door, prices are $12/$15.