We focus on Spring Awakening, Deaf West Theatre's stunning musical revival now on Broadway. This radical reinterpretation of the TONY-winning musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind's 1890 play features both deaf and hearing actors in this story about sexual repression and adolescent angst in pre-World War I Germany.
Our guests include Michael Arden, who conceived and directed this new production of Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's 2006 rock musical, which makes the story not only about young people struggling with societal restraints and their burgeoning sexuality, but the additional problem of deaf adolescents in a hearing community unwilling to communicate with them. Actors Alex Boniello, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin and Camryn Manheim also appear on our show, along with Jack Jason, who serves as the ASL interpreter for both Matlin and Durant.
Taped: 10-09-15
Theater Talk is a series devoted to the world of the stage. It began on New York television in 1993 and is co-hosted by Michael Riedel (Broadway columnist for the New York Post) and series producer Susan Haskins.
The program is one of the few independent productions on PBS and now airs weekly on Thirteen/WNET in New York and WGBH in Boston. Now, CUNY TV offers New York City viewers additional opportunities to catch each week's show. (Of course, Theater Talk is no stranger to CUNY TV, since the show is taped here each week before its first airing on Thirteen/WNET.)
The series is produced by Theater Talk Productions, a not-for-profit corporation and is funded by contributions from private foundations and individuals, as well as The New York State Council on the Arts.
Watch more Theater Talk at www.tv.cuny.edu/show/theatertalk