Mac Freeman as Moritz, Al Newling as Ilse Photo by Jon N. @HfxPeople
There is a new theatre company in town, and Elevator Theatre Company’s production of the hit 2006 musical Spring Awakening openeed at the Bus Stop Theatre on October 8th, and runs until October 25th. I chatted with the company’s Artistic Director Josh Rigo about bringing this musical to life here in Halifax.
Rigo’s passion for performing can be traced back to when he and his sister used to make music video together as kids, and his producing brain started percolating when he was in Grade 5 and his sister gave him a VHS tape of Donny Osmond in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and he went on to convince his music teacher to do the show at their elementary school. Elevator Theatre Company started in Ottawa in May, 2024 with a production of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years. Between then and June, 2026 the company produced nine plays and musicals in different venues in Ottawa, including Once, August: Osage County, Next to Normal, and Songs for a New World. There are three other productions on their docket for the inaugural season here in their new city: Rabbit Hole, The Father, and Falsettos.
Rigo says that he’s very excited for audiences to have a unique experience at The Bus Stop for Spring Awakening because it has alley seating, which gives you a much more immersive experience than with a conventional proscenium stage. “You’re part of something that happened- not just watching what happened- you contributed, your energy really did contribute to what went down [onstage],” he says.
The chairs in the theatre are set up in two rows facing each other on the two outer walls of the space, and the actors use the space in between as the stage. It is not quite theatre in the round, it’s closer to the thrust stage experience at Stratford with audiences on three sides of the action, but it means that audience members get different experiences depending on where they are seated, and the actors have to continually move to make sure that everyone is seeing enough of the action to feel immersed in it. Rigo also loves that the audience can see each other, and that that connection “can’t be replicated. That’s that night only. The room that gets built is built by the audience. I just love it.” He says that he knows that some people have bought tickets for two different performances with plans to sit on one side and then the other for a different experience.
Spring Awakening is a modern rock musical adaptation of a 1891 play of the same name written by Frank Wedekind, which wasn’t performed until November 20th, 1906, when it premiered at the Deutsche Theatre in Berlin. It has been often banned and censored given its frank portrayal of puberty and sexuality among teenagers, as well as dark themes of rape, child abuse, and homosexuality during a very repressive homophobic time period, suicide, and abortion. Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s musical version is set in the late 19th Century in Germany, and uses contemporary rock music and lyrics to dramatize the teenage angst that the young characters feel as they are trying to rebel against the oppressive cultural context around them. Rigo says that Sheik is showing that even though these teenagers lived over one hundred years ago their thoughts and their feelings about the changes happening in their bodies, and navigating finding their authentic selves in an uptight and repressive culture, is much more universal. “It’s trying to unify humanity,” he says, and encouraging empathy across disparate generations.
There are fifteen actors involved in the production, including two swings. There will also be two understudy shows. All the performers are local to Halifax. “They have shown up. This show- it’s intense. And to get to where you need to be… we have had several rounds of intimacy rehearsals… their fight call and intimacy call before the show is its own part of the schedule, so they’re ready to jump in headfirst- every single one of them- just 100% from day one have been magic, so that’s amazing.” Landon Duquette plays Melchior, Mac Freeman plays Moritz, and Maude McInnis plays Wendla, the three protagonists of the piece.
In 2006 Spring Awakening won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and it launched the careers of John Gallagher Jr., Jonathan Groff and Lea Michelle. Rigo says that when he was first introduced to the musical and the cast album he listened to it intensely for months, and he can still pinpoint exactly that specific chapter of his life.
The cast performs without microphones for this production. Rigo says he loves the “crispness” of the acoustics, and how there is no feedback, regardless of how tiny, coming through machines. “If teenagers in the 1890s were to break out into song, you’re hearing it exactly as it would happen,” he says. He says they have spent a large part of their recent rehearsal process levelling. He says he finds it fun to look at [a musical like this one] in a new way, and trying to do different things [the acoustic sound and the alley seating], to offer new experiences to the artists he’s working with as well as the theatre audiences. “We just can’t wait to have people with us,” he says.
Spring Awakening plays at the Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax) until October 25th, 2026. Performances run Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30pm with 2:00pm matinee performances on Sunday. Tickets are $52.00 for adults, $47.00 for seniors, and $42.00 for students. They are available online here or at the door before the performance at 2203 Gottingen Street.
Spring Awakening is a groundbreaking rock musical about a group of young people coming of age in a world that refuses to speak openly about desire, identity, and fear. Set in late 19th century Germany but driven by a contemporary pulse, this 8-time Tony Award-winning musical explores the collision between youthful longing and rigid authority. With a propulsive, emotionally charged score, Spring Awakening fuses folk-inspired rock with fearless storytelling. Urgent, intimate, and unflinching, it captures the intensity of adolescence, the cost of silence, and the power that comes from finally being heard.
No assigned seating. All tickets are general admission.
Content Warning: Spring Awakening contains mature and potentially distressing content, including sexual content, sexual violence, abortion, suicide, self-harm, physical abuse, strong language, and themes of grief, trauma, repression, and adolescent mental health. Viewer discretion is advised.
The Bus Stop Theatre Co-op is a multi-use performance venue located on Gottingen Street in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. The theatre has been in operation since 2003 and operating as a co-op since 2012. It hosts over 100 different groups and shows annually and is booked for performances, rehearsals and gatherings of all kinds for 250+ days of the year. The Bus Stop Theatre Co-op’s goal is to operate theatrical facilities that serve both artists and audiences. It does this by operating the only independent, affordable, accessible and professionally equipped black-box space in Halifax. Not only that, it is owned and operated by those who use it and benefit from it! The theatre also includes a welcoming lobby with a licensed bar. The Bus Stop is an all ages venue and welcomes youth whether or not the bar is operating. A dry bar is also possible on demand. Furthermore, the theatre is one of the few physically accessible venues in the area with level access and front row seating for chair users.
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