Deaf West Theatre's SPRING AWAKENING Extends at The Wallis

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts ("The Wallis"), Deaf West Theatre and Cody Lassen announce Deaf West Theatre's innovative new production of Spring Awakening has been extended for six additional performances through June 14. This eight-time, Tony Award-winning Best Musical is performed simultaneously in American Sign Language and spoken English by a cast of 27. The production has been playing to sold out audiences and critical acclaim since its opening last week.

Charles McNulty in the Los Angeles Times said Spring Awakening is "A rousing success ...this is a show for anyone who wants to see a contemporary American musical superbly done ... count yourself lucky that you have an opportunity to catch it now." Jordan Riefe in the Hollywood Reporter said Spring Awakening has "exceptional performances, inspired staging and brilliant use of sign language." BroadwayWorld.com raved that Deaf West's production is "unlike any production of Spring Awakening I've ever seen."

Based on Frank Wedekind's controversial 1891 expressionist play and featuring an electrifying score by Duncan Sheik and Steven Slater, Spring Awakening follows the lives of a group of teenagers as they navigate their journey from adolescence to adulthood in a fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll.

An extraordinary creative team, headed by director Michael Arden, choreographer Spencer Liff, and musical director Jared Stein have reinvented the groundbreaking musical about lost innocence and the struggles of youth in true Deaf West style. Arden previously appeared in Deaf West productions of Big River on Broadway and Pippin at the Mark Taper Forum. Liff is an Emmy-nominee for his work on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" and choreographed the current Broadway revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Stein's credits include the first National Tour of Spring Awakening; and Broadway productions of American Idiot and Hair.

The cast includes Joey Antonio, Hillary Baack, Miles Barbee, Sean Barna, Katie Boeck, Alex Boniello, Joshua Castille, Julian Comeau, Daniel N. Durant (ABC Family's "Switched at Birth"), Treshelle Edmond ("Glee," Super Bowl XLIX - signed National Anthem), Sandra Mae Frank, Kathryn Gallagher, Gabrielle Garza, Sean Grandillo (ABC "Secrets and Lies"), Karla Gutierrez ("Switched at Birth"), Amelia Hensley, Lauren M. Luiz, Daniel Marmion, Austin McKenzie, Andy Mientus (NBC "Smash," CW "The Flash," National Tour: Spring Awakening), Krysta Rodriguez ("Smash," Broadway: original Spring Awakening, The Addams Family, First Date), Natacha Roi ("ER"), Howie Seago (Wallis: Into the Woods; Oscar Nominated film, Beyond Silence), Daniel David Stewart, Ali Stroker ("Glee"), Alexandra Winter and Alex Wyse (Showtime's "Masters of Sex").

Tickets are $29 - $109 and are available at www.thewallis.org or by calling 310-746-4000 or in person at The Wallis Ticket Services located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. There is an Open-Captioned Performances on Saturday, June 6 at 3 pm.

Photo by Kevin Parry

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