Olney Theatre Center Begins Season With SPRING AWAKENING, 2/7-3/10

Spring Awakening, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, will open Olney Theatre Center 75th Anniversary Season playing on the Mainstage February 7 - March 10, 2013.

Spring Awakening celebrates the unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood with a power, poignancy and passion you will never forget. In the tradition of Hair and Rent, Spring Awakening is a musical that has captured the heart and soul of a new generation.

Based on the Expressionist play that caused a scandal in 19th-century Germany, Spring Awakening features a captivating score by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sate. The New York Times calls Spring Awakening, "HAUNTING AND ELECTRIFYING! This brave new musical has a shivery, sensual allure unmatched by anything in the theater right now."

Steve Cosson, founding Artistic Director of The Civilians and director of Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns at Woolly Mammoth [Top 10 of 2012 The Washington Post] takes the helm for this new production. Mr. Cosson is joined by Helen Hayes Award-winning Music Director Christopher Youstra and New York Choreographer Sam Pinkleton.

"I saw Spring Awakening during its original run on Broadway and am a big fan," says Mr. Cosson. "So, I was thrilled when Olney Theater Center offered me a chance to direct the show. Especially since the Broadway production created so many iconic images in design, staging and choreography, I felt there was an inherent challenge to not repeat the great work already accomplished on Broadway, but to discover the show afresh with the incredibly talented design team and cast at Olney Theatre Center."

The cast is led by Matthew Kacergis and Alyse Alan Louis as the star-crossed lovers Melchior and Wendla. Mr. Kacergis recently made his Olney Theatre Center debut as Prince Christopher in this Winter's Cinderella. DC audiences will recognize him from his performances in Parade, The Civil War and 1776 at Ford's Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre Company's Two Gentlemen of Verona: In Concert. Ms. Louis appeared on Broadway as Sophie in the hit musical Mamma Mia! Other credits include Bells Are Ringing, Camp Wanatachi, The Daughters, POP! Who Shot Andy Warhol?, Xanadu, Bright Lights, Big City and Hair.
Portraying the tortured Moritz Steifel is Helen Hayes Award Winner Parker Drown. Audiences will recognize Mr. Drown from his performances in Olney Theatre Center's Cinderella, Grease and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as well as Studio Theatre's Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson and Keegan Theatre's RENT, which his portrayal of Angel earned him a 2010 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Musical.
Rounding out the cast are MaryLee Adams, Austin VanDyke Colby, Maggie Donnelly, Samuel Edgerly, Ali Hoxie, Gracie Jones, David Landstrom, Liz Mamana, Katie McCreary, Christopher Mueller, Dayna Marie Quincy, Chris Rudy and Ethan Watermeier.

Spring Awakening is beyond sex and controversial issues. It's about conversation-one that Olney Theatre Center invites the Washington D.C. metro area to be a part of.

Olney Theatre Center is offering additional Spring Awakening programming, the first of which is a panel discussion with local sexual health educators. The "Let's Talk About Sex" Panel Discussion will be held on Wednesday, January 30th, 2013 at 7:30 pm, and will be open to the public, free of charge.

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