{"id":15841,"date":"2016-11-16T18:37:50","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T23:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=15841"},"modified":"2016-11-16T18:37:50","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T23:37:50","slug":"theatres-tough-topics-become-more-immediate-following-trump-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/theatres-tough-topics-become-more-immediate-following-trump-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre\u2019s tough topics become more \u201cimmediate\u201d following Trump win"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few short months ago, debates over women\u2019s rights, abortion and sexuality seemed to be parts of our not-too-distant past but, for better or worse, in the world of the theatre everything is ripe for a revival.
\nThese themes were slightly more remote when director Sergio Calderon sat down with his cast and crew to craft a vision for their next production, but the results of last week\u2019s American election have brought new \u201cimmediacy\u201d to their work.
\nSpring Awakening, an American musical set in the last decade of the 19th century, follows two teens as they grapple through their adolescence, discovering their bodies and minds and, most importantly, themselves, all the while struggling with issues ranging from sexuality to abortion.
\nFor some, those are topics that have been discussed, dealt with, and put on the shelf, but is that really the case following the election of Donald Trump?
\n\u201cWe honoured the 1890s but sadly, and most recently, it is becoming apparent that topics and issues at hand are still quite relevant,\u201d says Mr. Calderon. \u201cIt was completely unfathomable that topics we were discussing in theory for a show almost overnight became a reality for a whole country.
\n\u201cThe big ones would be women\u2019s rights and abortion; there is premarital sex and the mother has to illegally find a way to abort the baby in order to maintain integrity, and all of the sketchy things around that. We were talking a lot about rape culture, which has been impactful more in Canada because of recent trials and language around rape culture and consent.\u201d
\nInside or outside the hallowed walls of a theatre, these are issues Mr. Calderon says need to be talked about in order to address and break down the \u201cterrible stigma\u201d surrounding so much of what is happening today.
\n\u201cI have been supporting friends in the artistic community who have been doing classic pieces but I am kind of shocked and astonished that even though they are chestnut pieces we\u2019re still producing them and making light of such terrible things,\u201d he says. \u201cIn a snarky and sarcastic way, apparently misogyny is funny, apparently racism is funny, and apparently homophobia is funny. We just kind of white wash these things. No, these issues aren\u2019t funny and they need to be talked about.
\n\u201cWhether we make you enlightened in a happy way, a sad way, or an angry way, it doesn\u2019t matter; what is important is the conversation will continue. [Topics like] suicide, abortion, premarital sex or homophobia in a community theatre-type setting are great conversation starters out in the world because other people, I am hoping, will question why it might have made them feel uncomfortable. Why do we have to see Anything Goes 150 times? How does that make you grow? How does that help us evolve into a better society?\u201d
\nIn the end, Spring Awakening which is, at its base, a coming-of-age story, is a musical about personal growth. Based on a play of the same name, which was banned in Europe for decades because of its supposedly subversive nature, the show counters its dark topics with plenty of \u201cjoyful, celebratory, and jubilant\u201d material about self-discovery, says Mr. Calderon.
\n\u201cThere is a great juxtaposition between the dark moments and the light moments,\u201d he say. \u201cHaving a piece like this in the middle of our Theatre Aurora season [focusing on the theme of Borderless Love] you have to balance your consumption of culture, I believe. I feel as a participant in society, if you\u2019re going to consume culture, you can\u2019t just have one flavour all the time because it just simply doesn\u2019t fuel the soul in the same way as having a different point of view being presented.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a coming-of-age story: it\u2019s about love, it\u2019s about discovering who you are, with a tragic end. Despite having that dramatic undertone, people come away feeling satisfied with having a whole dynamic, three-dimensional story being told. I think that is why we get here; instead of your one-dimensional fluff piece, which is absolutely fair and great to have as the cherry on top of your big culture Sunday, sometimes you need a big ole\u2019 brownie in the middle to chew on a bit an feel satisfied at the end of that meal.\u201d
\nSpring Awakening opens at Theatre Aurora next Thursday, November 24, running on select dates and times through December 3. Suitable for 18+ audiences, tickets are now available through visiting www.theatreaurora.com, or calling the box office at 905-727-3669.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few short months ago, debates over women\u2019s rights, abortion and sexuality seemed to be parts of our not-too-distant past but, for better or worse, in the world of the theatre everything is ripe for a revival.
\nThese themes were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/2016-11-17-07.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-47v","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 09:27:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}