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“Masculine Stirrings,” “The Bitch of Living,” and “Bodily Filth”: Representations of Adolescence and Adolescent Sexuality in Spring Awakening and its Adaptations

Harelik, Elizabeth
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337202956

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Theatre.
This thesis discusses the representation of adolescents in Frank Wedekind’s controversial Spring Awakening and in two twenty-first century adaptations of Wedekind’s play: Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s musical Spring Awakening and Thomas Kilroy’s Christ Deliver Us!. Although some scholars have written about Wedekind’s Spring Awakening, and reviewers have discussed Sater and Sheik’s musical and Kilroy’s play, there is no scholarly writing analyzing the teenage characters in these plays in the context of the historical time period in which each piece was written and first performed. This thesis will attempt to fill this gap in scholarship. Chapter one will examine Frank Wedekind’s play, paying particular attention to characters’ gender performance. This chapter will also look at Wedekind’s final scene as an example of liminal space, and will analyze Wedekind’s representations of adolescent gender and access to liminal space in the context of the nineteenth century German school system and gender norms. Chapter two will look at Sater and Sheik’s musical, especially the expression of gender and liminality through musical numbers, focusing not only on Sater’s lyrics and Sheik’s music, but also on Bill T. Jones’s choreography. This chapter will pay special attention to the clash between hyper-sexual culture and the push for abstinence-only education in the twenty-first century United States, and how this conflict may have influenced Sater and Sheik’s adaptation. Chapter three will discuss Thomas Kilroy’s Christ Deliver Us!, the only piece not set in 1890s Germany. This chapter will look at gender and liminality in Kilroy’s play in the context of Irish societal norms. It will also focus especially on the influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland as well as the Ryan and Murphy reports, released in 2009, that revealed endemic abuse perpetrated by clergy members against children. The conclusion will examine the shared goals of all three pieces, as well as the common shortcomings of these plays.
Lesley Ferris, PhD (Advisor)
Jennifer Schlueter, PhD (Committee Member)
141 p.
Gender; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies
Adolescence; adolescent sexuality; liminality; gender performance; Spring Awakening; Christ Deliver Us!; Wedekind, Frank; Sater, Steven; Sheik, Duncan; Kilroy, Thomas

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Harelik, E. (2012). “Masculine Stirrings,” “The Bitch of Living,” and “Bodily Filth”: Representations of Adolescence and Adolescent Sexuality in Spring Awakening and its Adaptations [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337202956

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Harelik, Elizabeth. “Masculine Stirrings,” “The Bitch of Living,” and “Bodily Filth”: Representations of Adolescence and Adolescent Sexuality in Spring Awakening and its Adaptations. 2012. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337202956.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Harelik, Elizabeth. "“Masculine Stirrings,” “The Bitch of Living,” and “Bodily Filth”: Representations of Adolescence and Adolescent Sexuality in Spring Awakening and its Adaptations." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337202956

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.