Special SPRING AWAKENING Debut of the Month Series: Kathryn Gallagher

Deaf West Theater's production of Spring Awakening is currently in previews at Broadway's Brook Atkinson Theater, with opening night set for Sunday, September 27. As BWW recently reported, an extra two weeks of performances have been added to the limited engagement, extending the show's run through Sunday, January 24th.

How did you become involved with the Deaf West production of SPRING AWAKENING?

I got a text from one of my best friends, Ben Platt, who I've been doing theater with since I was a KID (Tracy and Link, Velma and Billy Flynn, Baker and Baker's Wife... all before the age of 15). He told me his friend Michael was looking for musician/actor types for this production of Spring Awakening he was working on, and I should expect a call from him. A couple hours later I got a call from Michael Arden, who told me all about the project. We got coffee, and at the time I was just doing music stuff, entirely unrepresented, so not really knowing what the next step was. I just sent him a text later that day saying I'd do whatever - I wanted in. An audition and a bit later, and I was walking into the first day of rehearsal for the first production of our show. I still remember Michael telling me when we got coffee that first day that working with Deaf West had changed his life and it would change mine. I definitely don't think either one of us knew how right he would be.

What have been some of the specific challenges you have faced with this production?

Everything! Everyone in our show is doing something they've never done before. When we started the show I wasn't really a guitarist. I was a singer/songwriter and I played guitar and wrote on guitar. I could play guitar, but I was not playing Duncan Sheik music on electric guitar with a pedal board! I remember when Michael asked me if I could play "The Bitch of Living," the most rocking song in the show - without hesitation I said "Yeah! Of course! Give me the night!" And I went home and practiced till my fingers bled. So becoming the kind of guitarist I would want to play with has been a big challenge for me, but everyone in our show has something that's new. Doing a show in two different languages, that's hard. Every single moment I think to myself, "Okay, I'm getting the hang of this," a new challenge presents itself. I love it though - we're all trying things and failing and trying again until we nail it. It's awesome. We're all in it together.

In what ways does adding American Sign Language to Spring Awakening intensify the conflicts at the heart of the story and deepen the theatrical experience?

Spring Awakening is about a lack of communication between children and adults and the consequences that can have. The show takes place in 1891 after the Milan Conference, which ruled that Sign Language couldn't be taught in schools, so each Deaf actor plays a Deaf character who is getting their language, culture, and ability to communicate taken away from them. It raises the stakes - these kids never had a chance, they never had a voice. Except the ones upstage holding instruments ready to break out into rock music at anytime!

Also, ASL is beautiful and watching any one of my castmates sign a song or a scene is like a religious experience, especially with the way Spencer Liff has integrated the choreography with the ASL. It's just amazing. I get chills every time I watch the signing in "Touch Me."

In what ways do you use your instrument as an additional means of communication?

At this point I feel weird when I don't have a guitar on me... It's like an extra limb...

Martha, our character, doesn't really have a voice. She gets silenced by her father and her family, abused and mistreated by the people who are supposed to love and support her. I've always felt, especially in middle school and other awkward, sad times in my life, that being able to pick up my guitar and write or play a song at any time was this little thing I had that no one could take away from me... with a voice and a guitar, you can just make music, just by yourself. That's the empowering part of our character - in her daily life, she gets everything taken away, but then she gets her power through music, and it's her time to tell her story. The guitar is just another layer.

Also, being a girl who plays guitar, and a lot of it being electric guitar... I don't think I realized how rare it was until I had a ton of people coming up to me after shows asking if it was really me playing guitar... but every now and then I'll get a couple girls saying that they loved seeing girls play guitar, and that they were going to start guitar lessons, or that when they got home they started practicing with a guitar they hadn't picked up in years. That's amazing to me. Maybe in a couple years it won't feel like such a novelty to see chick guitarists. That would be awesome. We'll get there.

Can you talk about the process of developing a relationship with Treshelle and how you became in sync with each other?

Practice! We just talked to each other, asked about each other, our personal experiences, the way we viewed Martha, how we felt about each line of dialogue.... we talk about every line, what our intentions are... just making sure we're on the same page. We get together before the show, make eye contact and breathe together.

When you are speaking, are you focused more on the actor you are speaking for or on the person the character is speaking with?

My eyes are always on Treshelle. I'm her instrument. She's so powerful, she's incredible to watch. I'm lucky to get to be her voice, she's a powerhouse.

You have been writing your own music since 12 years old. Who are some of your influences?

So many! A lot of older artists: Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, anything Motown. There's so much good new music that I'm listening to right now...Borns, Andy Mientus and I just went to his show last week and it was incredible, The 1975, Ryan Adams, Taylor Swift, I've been her #1 fan since her first album and proud of it - ask anyone in the cast - I can rattle off Taylor Trivia like a pro! Also, Kurt Vile, Royal Blood, Circa Waves, Wolf Alice, Grimes, Bleachers, Mighty Oaks, The Japanese House, Gengahr, Blur, Will Butler. Okay, I'll stop now, but the list could go on forever!

What has it been like to make your Broadway debut in this production?

I get to go to work every day and do a Broadway show with my best friends. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

About Kathryn Gallagher: Kathryn Gallagher is a singer/songwriter with music featured in the feature film Thanks for Sharing, USA's "Covert Affairs" and more. Performance highlights include opening for Ray & Robby of The doors, Little Feat, The Bacon Brothers and Deaf West's Spring Awakening at the Wallis Annenberg. Her debut EP produced by Mikal blue was released in 2014 and an upcoming EP will be released this fall.

Photo Credit: Tate Tullier

Photo Credit: Kevin Parry

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus