Awaken this fall with Elevator Theatre Company’s Halifax debut

At a small, intimate theatre found in Halifax’s North End, the Bus Stop Theatre Co-op will feature one of Broadway’s hit sensations starting Oct. 8.

Elevator Theatre Company will debut its first Halifax season with Spring Awakening, directed by the company’s founder, Josh Rigo. 

Originally a Broadway hit, Spring Awakening is a coming-of-age story told through the eyes of 19th-century German teenagers. 

“It is such a good piece to establish the type of theatre I want to do with Elevator … it has a bigger cast so we are able to meet people … and get actors in the door,” says Rigo.

He used the Bus Stop’s small setting to make the audience feel like they’re part of the show and not watching it from afar. 

“Sometimes you can get lost in a big house.”

The theatre is configured with 60 seats and will have an “alley stage” so action can happen in the middle of the audience. 

Landon Duquette, who plays Melchior, the rebellious male lead, says the intimate setting originally made him nervous. 

“Being that close to an audience, it adds a layer of intimacy for everybody,” he says. ”Whether you’re the audience or the members of the cast. It’s going to make the story hit harder.” 

When one enters the Bus Stop Theatre, they are completely encapsulated in the story of Spring Awakening. The lights go out, the mic-less actors appear, and the acoustic band starts playing. The audience is now a part of this story.

“It doesn’t give [the audience] a moment to come out of the world,” says Duquette.

The production will be fully acoustic, using no individual microphones and only four instruments. 

“If sound is happening next to you, it’s going to sound very different than when there’s something happening [on a big stage] during a group number,” says Rigo. 

The acoustic version of the show will not only make it more immersive, but will have a new “folky, indie-rock” sound, says Rigo. 

Why is Spring Awakening so important? 

Mac Freeman, who plays Moritz, a depressed teenager struggling with failure and parental pressures, says Spring Awakening tells an important story for the adults and the youth of today’s world. 

“[The show] teaches adults that there is a need to pay attention to what the youth are saying, and there is a need to teach them more and make sure they know what they’re going into in the real world,” says Freeman. 

Maude McInnis, who plays the curious female lead, Wendla, says the play gives young voices a platform against societal misunderstandings.

“It’s really valuable to ask ourselves what the consequences might be when young people aren’t given the space to ask certain questions safely,” said McInnis in an email to the Dalhousie Gazette. “Who are the older generations really protecting by withholding the truth?”

Spring Awakening deals with a lot of darker themes that require extra care and attention. Instead of sensationalizing or including content for the shock factor, Rigo uses an immersive, stripped-down version of the show to make Spring Awakening more personal.

“We want anything that happens to be something that people can empathize with or relate to.” 

Spring Awakening will run until Oct. 25 at the Bus Stop Theatre Co-op.