Frank Wedekind and his play "Spring's Awakening"

In coordination with this year's Pioneer Performance Series production of Spring Awakening, the musical, (based on a 19th century German play by Frank Wedekind), and Professor Jay Rosellini's presentation about the original work and Wedekind’s legacy in drama history, the Sawyer Library is highlighting items in the Library's collection related to the play and its German author.

The contemporary production:

• Spring Awakening
  Book and lyrics by Steven Sater ; music by Duncan Sheik. Online access via eBrary.


• Spring Awakening : In the Flesh
  Written by David Cote ; principal photography by Doug Hamilton and Joan Marcus.

The English translation of Wedekind's play:

• Spring's Awakening: Tragedy of Childhood
  By Frank Wedekind; English version and ten notes by Eric Bentley

The original play:

• Frühlings Erwachen : eine Kindertragödie
  Frank Wedekind ; mit einem Nachwort von Georg Hensel

Biography and criticism of Frank Wedekind (1864-1918):

• Frank Wedekind
  By Sol Gittleman


• Frank Wedekind
  by Alan Best

• Twentieth-Century German Dramatists, 1889-1918
  Access book at Gale's Dictionary of Literary Biography Online


• The Playwright & Historical Change; Dramatic Strategies in Brecht, Hauptmann, Kaiser & Wedekind
  By Leroy R. Shaw

German literature and culture:

• The Cambridge Companion to
  Modern German Culture
  View full text via Cambridge Online

Reviews of performances, and articles about the play, from
the New York Times, spanning from 1908 to 2008.

All are available online to Suffolk University students and staff, via
the Historic New York Times database.

• Isherwood, Charles. "Injecting Real Youth into a Youthful show." New York Times (1923-Current file): 1. Sep 15 2008. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• BELLAFANTE, GINIA. "Sex, Repressed and Unleashed." New York Times (1923-Current file): 2. Feb 09 2007. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• Isherwood, Charles. "THEATER REVIEW: A Rock 'n' Roll Heartbeat for German Schoolboys of the 19th Century." New York Times (1923-Current file): 1. Jun 16 2006. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• SISARIO, BEN. "Duncan Sheik." New York Times (1923-Current file): 1. Feb 26 2006. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• Gussow, MEL. "Stage: Juilliard Players do 'Spring Awakening'." New York Times (1923-Current file): 40. Dec 19 1977. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• Funke, LEWIS. "Theater: Wedekind's 'the Awakening of Spring': Sex-Education Sermon at Pocket Theater 1891 Play Conveys Air of a Museum Piece." New York Times (1923-Current file): 50. May 13 1964. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• Gelb, ARTHUR. "Theatre: Dated Sermon: 'Spring's Awakening'Is an Essay on Sex." New York Times (1923-Current file): 30. Oct 10 1955. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• "COURT BARS SEX PLAY: Justice Erlanger Finds "The Awakening of Spring" Unfit for Public." New York Times (1857-1922): 13. May 03 1917. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• "THE AWAKENING OF SPRING": A Tragedy of Childhood by the German Playwright, Frank Wedekind." New York Times (1857-1922): 1. Oct 01 1910. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.


• Special Cable to THE NEW,YORK TIMES. "CHILD ACTORS SEEN IN GERMAN SEX PLAY." New York Times (1857-1922): 9. Oct 29 1908. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.

Speaker Series Event! Spring's Awakening - Wedekind's Awakening

Sponsored by Mildred F. Sawyer Library and the Performing Arts Office

When: Thursday February 12th, 2015; 1pm-2:15pm
Where: 73 Tremont St, Sawyer Library Poetry Center

Sawyer Library is thrilled to support Suffolk’s Performing Arts Office with a speaker event and hallway display focused on the upcoming 2015 spring musical, Spring Awakening. Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik updated a late nineteenth century German play by Frank Wedekind, Fruhlings Erwachen (Spring’s Awakening), to resonate with a twenty-first century audience, but Wedekind’s main themes of adolescent sexual and emotional exploration remain at the core of the play. Professor Jay Rosellini will delve deeper into the play’s history at the Poetry Center event on Thursday Februrary 12th from 1pm to 2:15pm. Refreshments will be provided!

Spring Awakening’s opening performance is Thursday, February 19th at 7:30pm. Spring Awakening runs on the 19th, 20th and 21st of February 2015 at Suffolk’s C. Walsh Theatre. Get free tickets from the Performing Arts Office, located on the 4th floor of Donahue building.

Next week keep your eyes peeled for a Sawyer Library Blog entry detailing Spring Awakening related resources available here at Mildred F. Sawyer library!

Speaker Series Event! The Perils, Promise and Problems of Social Media and its Impact on Sports Journalism

 

Sponsored by Mildred F. Sawyer Library and the Journalism and Communication Department

When: Thursday February 5, 2015; 12pm – 1pm

Where: 73 Tremont St, Sawyer Library Poetry Center

Click HERE to RSVP

Sawyer Library kicks off the spring semester Speaker Series with Comcast SportsNet journalist A. Sherrod Blakely! Come to hear a seasoned professional in the field discuss the specific effects ubiquitous social media in today’s society has on sports journalism. 

A. Sherrod Blakely is a veteran sports journalist who has covered a range of sports, from field hockey to the Final Four. Since 2009, he has been a digital media reporter covering the Boston Celtics for Comcast SportsNet, CSNNE.com, and SportsNet Central. Prior to that, the Syracuse, New York native was an NBA beat writer in Detroit where he covered the Pistons for Booth News Service and MLive.com. His professional career hasn't always been in the pros. Prior to working in Michigan, Blakely spent five years covering Duke, North Carolina State, and the ACC for the Raleigh, North Carolina News & Observer. He credits those opportunities having come about because of the encouragement he received from his tenth grade English teacher - Mr. Paratore - and the education he received at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Please excuse our dust and noise ...

The Sawyer Library is in the process of removing books and bound periodicals from the collection to make way for more seating for students.

We apologize for the dust and noise that this effort creates.

New Database: Women's Periodicals of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century, 1733-1844

Sawyer Library's third recent acquisition of historic content is Ebsco's Women's Periodicals of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century, 1733-1844.

It is described as being "one of three collections containing women's-related periodicals that span the 18th through the 19th century and represent a broad range of subjects and places of publication. This series draws heavily from the Colonial through the Jacksonian Era, spanning roughly from the 1730's-1840's. Because almost all of the women's periodicals by nature covered many topics, the titles included in this collection highlight radically changing perceptions of womanhood and ideas about the role of women over time. Some representative titles are:

• the Lady's Monthly Museum or Polite Repository of Amusment and Instruction,
• the Ladies' Companion,
• the Lady's Book
• and Margret Fuller's Transcendentalist publication, the Dial."

New Database: 'Scientific Periodicals, 1771-1901'

In addition to the periodical database discussed below, the Sawyer Library has also added the Ebsco database 'Scientific Periodicals, 1771-1901.' Ebsco's database description states:

"The Scientific Periodicals, 1771-1901 collection contains publications related chiefly to the hard sciences: mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, geology (including mining), and the like. It also contains a few social sciences titles and literary magazines with science content." Titles include:

• The Anthropological Journal
• Astronomical Notices
• The American Chemist
• The American Journal of Microscopy and Popular Science
• The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist
• Popular Science Monthly.

This database is a nice complement to JSTOR, which also includes journals in the sciences, in some cases with coverage going back as far as the mid 1800's.

New Database: 'Current Events and History Periodicals, 1691-1912 '

The Sawyer Library has recently added an online collection of periodicals which cover the period 1691-1912. The vendor, Ebsco, describes the collection as follow:

"The Current Events and History Periodicals 1691-1912 collection consists primarily of publications about the current events of the 18th and 19th centuries. These include regular reports on economics and government affairs, with titles such as:

• the New England Post Office Record,
• the Political State of Great Britain,
• and the Social Science Review.

Also strongly represented in this collection is as group of periodicals dedicated to local news and interests, including:

• Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society,
• Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
• Mad River Valley Pioneer,
• and Bowen's Boston News Letter.

In addition, there are many titles that take the country's history as their main subject:

• Lexington and Concord Centennial 1775,
• Stars and Stripes in Rebellion,
• The Scorpion: A Journal Devoted to the Interests of the Privateersman,
• the Historical Family Library,
• the Picture Gallery of the New and Old Worlds,
• and the Antiquarian and General Review,

to name but a few."

Students who are looking for contemporaneous accounts of events from that time period may find something of use here.