May 3, 2022

5/3/2022

NYC. I've known Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater for many, many years - I met them both, pre Spring Awakening success, at the O'Neill Theater Center, circa 20XX...? ;). They were working on another show altogether. At that moment, Spring Awakening was dead. They had been developing it for years and it wasn't going anywhere. Flash forward to 2005, Duncan and Steven (or someone!) invited me to the SA backers' reading at Lincoln Center. I remember attending and not really knowing or seeing what it was, what it could become. Then it got picked up by the Atlantic Theater Company. I went to a very early preview; it might have actually been an invited dress. And, after that, I knew it would be a hit (I didn't know how big a hit, but I knew it was special). I remember when SA really erupted and what a monumental shift it presented in musical theater culture and theater culture, at large. Years later, Duncan and I traveled to Atlanta to visit my high school. AIS was one of the first schools in the country to present the musical. It was really exciting to get a little glimpse into that process. What an incredible piece of performance.

Be sure to check out the HBO Max documentary about this amazing musical.