Spring Awakening came to Penn State’s University Park campus on November 7, 2014. Spring Awakening tells a story of young adolescents in late 19th century Germany. The various characters explore their sexuality while trying to continue on with normal teenage activities. This production of Spring Awakening explored the sexual curiosities and confusion of adolescents, abuse, and the pressure put on adolescents to succeed. The sexual curiosities and confusions of teens was a theme apparent throughout the entirety of Spring Awakening. Wendla, played by Carrie Brandon, asks her mother where babies come from, her mother cannot bring herself to explain the mechanics of it and explains that a couple must love each other very much to make a baby. Wendla blames her mother for her accidental pregnancy later on because she did not understand what sex was or that a baby could result from it. Moritz, played by Greg LaMontagne, was having erotic dreams and did not understand what they were or meant. He tells Melchior, played by Christian Thompson, who figures out what they are and tells him that they are dreams about women. Melchior wants to tell Moritz about it, but Moritz is too embarrassed and asks …show more content…
One of the girls, Martha, played by Brinie Wallace, admitted to her friends that her father was abusing her. The girls pushed her to tell an adult, but she would not because she feared that it would make it worse or that her parents would disown her. There was also another character Ilse, played by Christina Kidd, who spoke out about her abuse and was kicked out of her house. Ilse lived on the street and had to find creative ways to make money and find places to stay. Although it would have been nice if the girls could have found help in one of the adults about their problem, their depiction of abuse in this time period was very accurate because it was not a subject that was discussed in everyday