East West Players’ production of the Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening,” which must end this weekend, introduces several young performers, including Thomas Winter and Genki Hall.
Directed by former EWP Artistic Director Tim Dang, with book and lyrics by Steven Sater and music by Duncan Sheik, the play is set in 1891 Germany, where repressed, adolescent students stumble into adulthood as clumsily as they do into each other’s arms.
Winter, who plays Melchior Gabor, is a recent graduate of University of Southern California making his professional acting debut with EWP. At USC, he earned degrees in theatre and economics and performed in several stage productions, including “The Secret Garden,” “Seamless,” “Queen Margaret,” and “The Last Five Years.” He recently appeared at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in “A Dream at the End of Time,” an original musical that was nominated for best musical by the Broadway World Regional Awards.
He is thrilled to be joining this talented cast and is proud that his first show is in Little Tokyo, a community where his family has historical roots. His grandfather was Thomas Watanabe, a radiologist who owned Central X-Ray, which occupied the second-floor space above Oomasa Restaurant in Japanese Village Plaza.
Winter says his favorite song to perform in “Spring Awakening” is either “Totally F—ed” or “Song of Purple Summer.” “There’s something about the sound of our company singing together, filling the entire space, that makes me feel like we are creating magic on stage. My favorite song to listen to in the show, however, is ‘Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise).’ The women in this show kill that song every time without fail.”
What is the significance of this show for him? “This production of ‘Spring Awakening’ is important for a number of reasons. Principally, this show features a cast of whom nearly all are people of color. This completely changes the dynamics that the characters in the show have with each other and will make even those who have seen ‘Spring Awakening’ a hundred times on YouTube, Broadway, or anywhere else experience it in a new and different way.
“One major theme at the core of our show is that history is cyclical. This idea that what isn’t fixed is bound to be repeated in a new light. People who come to this show will likely be reminded of issues like abortion, suicide, and a range of other topics that continue to remain prevalent and unresolved in our society today.
“But what I hope they also consider is how we can help find new solutions to old problems when we examine them from diverse perspectives which are normally otherwise ignored.”
His favorite line in the show? “I want to just say Ilse’s opening verse in ‘Song of Purple Summer.’ But if I had to choose one specific line from that song it would be the very first line: ‘Listen to what’s in the heart of a child, a song so big in one so small.’
Hall, who is playing Ernst Röbel, is thrilled to be returning to performing after most recently working as script coordinator/showrunner’s assistant for Season 1 of “Sunny” (Apple TV/A24) in Tokyo. His favorite roles include Perón (“Evita”), Linus (“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”), and Robertson Ay (“Mary Poppins”).
After studying creative writing and psychology at University of Virginia and writing and producing for television at Loyola Marymount University, Hall plans to continue storytelling through stage and television in the years to come.
He would like to thank his family for their unconditional support, Governor’s School for the Arts for their training, and Dang for this exciting opportunity.
His favorite song in the show to perform? “Bitch of Living” because “I get to jump off tables and chairs!”
Hall’s take on the significance of the show: “In a society that implicitly teaches everyone that whiteness is associated with beauty, competence, and power, showcasing a non-white cast in a musical that often only uplifts white talent actively fights against those institutional biases. East West Players shares a message for audience, cast, and crew alike just by encouraging us to thrive in its space: We are capable. We are deserving. And we are here.”
His favorite line from the show? “‘Spring Awakening’ has so many beautiful, poetic, clever, funny, and grim lines to choose from, I had to think about this for maybe 10 minutes. But once I figured it out, I knew. I’m almost embarrassed to say it, but it’s just fun. It’s fun. And creative and up to interpretation. I mean this so genuinely: it’s ‘Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.’”
The cast also includes Mia Sempertegui, Marcus Phillips, Madison Grepo, Tamlyn Tomita, Daniel Blinkoff, Jaylen Baham, James Everts, Sarah Marie Hernandez, Justine Rafael, Eric Renna and Leianna Weaver, with CJ Cruz, Evan Pascual and Kay Sibal as understudies.
“Spring Awakening” is being performed at the David Henry Hwang Theater, located at Union Center of the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St. in Little Tokyo. Remaining shows: Thursday, Nov. 30, and Friday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 2, at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at www.eastwestplayers.org or by calling (213) 625-7000. Student, senior, and group discounts are available.