The Sandbox Collective Opens 2026 Season With Spring Awakening
After a successful 2025 season with Side Show: The Musical and Next to Normal, The Sandbox Collective is already announcing its opening plans for the 2026 season with Spring Awakening. This also marks the theater company's first show under new Artistic Director Sab Jose-Gregorio. Spring Awakening runs in February 2026 at the Black Box at the Proscenium Theater, Rockwell Center, Makati City.
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Synopsis of Spring Awakening
Spring Awakening, with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, is a rock-infused reimagining of Frank Wedekind’s 1891 musical of the same title. The coming-of-age musical transposes a 19th-century moral crisis into a contemporary-sounding score and kinetic staging, centering on youth yearning and the cost of adult silence.
The Broadway production led the 2007 Tony Awards with 11 nominations and eight awards, including Best Musical, Best Book (Steven Sater), Best Original Score (Duncan Sheik & Steven Sater), Best Direction (Michael Mayer), Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones), Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik), Best Lighting Design (Kevin Adams), and a win for John Gallagher Jr. (Featured Actor). The West End staging also bagged the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
The Sandbox Collective's Spring Awakening
Sab Jose shares: "Spring Awakening marks the beginning of a new chapter here at Sandbox. While it honors the journey we’ve had in the last decade – the coming of age and constant rediscovery – it also marks a deliberate choice to continue producing shows that are radical, brave, and advocacy-driven. This show isn’t just about adolescence and sexuality. It’s about reclaiming one’s body, voice, and destiny and most of all, educating and empowering young audiences."
The Sandbox Collective's Spring Awakening will be directed by Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, with musical direction by Ejay Yatco. Rounding up the creative team are Nunoy Van Den Burgh as choreographer, Missy Maramara as intimacy director, Wika Nadera as set designer, Raven Ong as costume designer, Gabbi Campomanes as assistant director, and D Cortezano as lighting designer.
They're holding an open audition from August 31 to September 1.
Spring Awakening is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI), New York, NY, USA.
