Interview With The Cast of Spring Awakening
April 16, 2016 By: Jonathan Mihaich
Scott Jacobs
Krystal Hernandez and Mat Stanley.
This season’s musical, Spring Awakening features three dominating lead roles rather than the traditional musical, which only has one. Scott Jacobs and Mat Stanley are freshman at Salem State and this is both their first roles here. Krystal Hernandez is a sophomore and starred in Servant of Two Masters last spring as the character Clarice.
Jonathan: How does it feel to have a starring role in a musical be your first experience in the theater? Scott: It’s surreal for me. Its funny because Spring Awakening is my favorite musical and if you had asked me in high school “what’s your dream role?” I would have said Moritz from Spring Awakening, absolutely.. And then when I cam for my tour one of the upperclassman who happened to be a theater major said that they were doing Spring Awakening and freshman could audition. So its one of the most amazing experiences. I’m so thankful for it. I have fun every day we come to rehearsal.
Mat: For me, it’s really cool. It’s quite an honor to feel very accepted into the department so quickly freshman year. Its such an honor to be playing such a role right off the bat and I’m already learning so much from Bill [Cunningham] and from the instructors and everyone. I look forward to the next couple years in this program. It’s really quite amazing to be a part of it.
Jonathan: Do you feel like it would have been difficult to adjust if you weren’t in such a large role? Scott: I honestly don’t think so.
Matt: Yeah I would agree with that.
Scott: Everyone here is really really welcoming. It’s been great.
Matt: Even for the crew. I was on crew for a show last semester and I was the smallest crew position possible and I was still a part of the cast and crew and it was still an incredible experience. I still learned even though I only joined in the last two weeks of the show.
Jonathan: And you (switching over to Krystal) have worked in the Main Stage before. So having worked in the Main Stage how is working in the Callan a different experience for you? Krystal: It’s incredibly different, especially with the audience being so close to you. In Main Stage it’s a lot easier to keep that fourth wall up and with the Callan, and this musical particularly, I think it’s great that it’s in a more intimate space. It gives us a chance to really hone in on what we’re feeling when we’re acting it. It’s a different experience but I like it a lot, so I’ve acted in the big stage and now I’ve acted in the mini one.
Jonathan: Considering the show has a lot of delicate and uncomfortable moments, what part of the rehearsal process or what scene has been the most uncomfortable for you specifically? Krystal: The sex scene
Mat: Well yes…umm. I actually think the beating scene, for me, is a lot more uncomfortable because I’m very concerned about actually hurting you or something like that and it’s very uncomfortable. It’s out of the comfort zone. I mean the sex scene is way up there.
Krystal: Oh yeah. For me it would probably be the sex scene but I can understand the beating scene for you.
Mat: It’s just one of those things that goes against everything you believe in.
Krystal: It’s one of those things where we get to those scenes in rehearsal and it seriously takes a certain mentality to be able to get into it but also be able to step back and it’s not easy at all
Mat: To remove yourself, but keep control of yourself at the same time. It’s the scariest thing.
Scott: I’d say the hardest for me is probably the suicide scene. Definitely. For me personally, as far as doing the suicide scene, I’ve never personally had depression, anxiety, anything that this character suffers. I know people who have had, but it’s not a place I’ve ever been, so it’s not something I’m used to doing. And there is one song I sing where I make the plan to do the suicide and the first time we ever did it I stepped back afterwards and I was like wow. It was scary almost. It struck me that people have this and go through this stuff. And people are just so uneducated about it. And that’s what this show is really about; at the end of the day, it's letting people know that kids go through this stuff and sometimes people just don’t care or don’t notice it.
Krystal: To piggyback off of you I think that for a lot of us, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve never gone through anything my character goes through but I think that through this process, and with the help of our professors, we’ve been able to relate by association. You know people who have had those feelings and you use that as a technique to get yourself into the moment and into the mentality. And we have done exercises that get us to talk to our character and say things that your character would say to you and you would say to your character. And then in the end you would realize that you are more like your character than you thought. I think that after that exercise, the whole rehearsal process took a turn and we all really honed in on who we are.
Jonathan: So would you say that getting into the mind of your character was the most difficult part of the rehearsal process? Krystal: Yes
Matt: Certain aspects of the mind of the character, yes. I know with me personally my mom has been telling me 'oh well at least it’s not real,'but it is to me. It is to everyone in the cast when you’re in the moment. Its real and I’m actually beating this person, or this is actually sort of rape, and it all feels very real.
Scott: I think we are all lucky that we are so comfortable with each other.
Mat: Absolutely
Scott: And everyone in the cast, either we were friends beforehand or are friends now, so it makes it easy. We go through this together. Like Me and Mat have been friends since the beginning of the school year and we can just joke around and we are there for each other. Every time after finishing the suicide scene, the girl I do it with, we go backstage and hug every time. Me and Courtney hug every time.
Jonathan: So you mentioned your parents earlier, which kind of brings me to my next question. Considering the delicate nature of this show what scene or musical number are you most excited for the audience, particularly your parents, to see? Mat: Most excited? I’ve never even…
Scott: I think I’m most excited for my mom to see “The Bitch of Living”. It’s my personal favorite song in the show and its angst-y and fun.
Krystal: For me it would probably be “Totally Fucked” because it’s one of those things where it’s like…everyone has been there, where you’ve been caught at one point in your life and you think “I know what you feel and I’m feeling it right now” and I’m bringing you in to feel what I’m feeling. Also it’s just a fun song to sing anyways. I mean who doesn’t want to say fuck in front of their parents?
Mat: I think I’m most excited for my mom to see “Those You’ve Known”. Because my family, I’m not gonna go into it, went through a lot of personal stuff in the past year and “Those You’ve Known” puts a really great message of “it’s really hard but you can come through and you will get through this and there is always a way”, a light at the end of the tunnel if you will. And I’m really excited for her to see that in song form with her child.
Krystal: The songs are just great representations of what is going on in our minds, especially as characters, together as a cast. Its great.
Scott: I think the audience is really going to like the last two songs, “Those You’ve Known” and “The Song of Purple Summer, because it gives you that hope that even if you lose a loved one they’re still with you in your heart and that’s a beautiful message. And the end is the whole cast saying, to put it bluntly, shitty things happen.
Krystal: But it’s your redemption at the end and it sort of leaves the audience on a happy note.
Scott: Yeah, they don’t leave you that sad.
Spring Awakening opens on Thursday April 16th and has showings on the 17th, 18th, 19th, and the following week on the 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 26th. Tickets cost $15 general/$10 Non-Salem State students and seniors. SSU students get in free with ID. It is directed by Bill Cunningham with choreography by Kate Kohler Amory and musical direction by Karen Gahagan.
Contributor's Note: John Mihaich is a junior at SSU.