Spring Awakening (The Play): Basic Facts

• Written sometime between autumn 1890 and spring 1891 by Frank Wedekind.
• Was Wedekind's first major play.
• First performed in 1906 in Berlin.
• Set in rural Germany in 1892.
• Written in German, translated to English.
• Story of German adolescents dealing with puberty that culminates in tragedy due to their lack of knowledge about what is happening to their bodies and in their lives.
• Focuses on three central teenage characters: Moritz Stiefel, Melchior Gabor, and Wendla Bergman.
• Also features other teenage characters who deal with entirely seperate problems, ranging from two boys discovering homosexuality and a runaway living the artistic bohemian life.