The College of the Holy Cross’ Alternate College Theatre (ACT) will present “Spring Awakening,” adapted by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater and directed by Christine Freije at 8 p.m. Feb. 7 and 8 and 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 9 in Fenwick Theatre (located on the second floor of O’Kane Hall).

Originally written by Frank Wedekind in 1891 and adapted into a Broadway musical in 2006, Spring Awakening is a coming-of-age story about a group of German peasant teenagers in the late 19th -century. Focusing on the relationship between Melchior Gabor, a young, rebellious atheist, and Wendla Bergman, who is desperately seeking answers concerning her changing body and emotions, the play follows the development of both their physical and emotional relationship, and explores the struggles of other characters by interrogating the nature of abuse, puberty, sexuality, academic failure and strict discipline.

“The rock musical numbers allow each character to express the emotional lives that they are forced to suppress in regular society,” Freije said. “The show says something difficult and complicated. It ends up trying to grapple with the repercussions of repression as well as exploring the possibility of a fulfilling sexual life in a repressive society.”

Often censored and banned (as recently as in 1963 in the U.S.) because of its alleged rebellious and subversive content, the musical version of Spring Awakening premiered on Broadway when Freije was 15, she said, “the same age as the adolescent characters in the show.” Reflecting on her hopes for the production at the College, she states, “I hope that it will remind the audience that they are not so far from those emotions after all.”

ACT is a student-run organization at Holy Cross. For each show, students manage every aspect of directing, acting, lighting and design. A theater major from Worcester, Mass., Freije has acted since age seven in community theater and throughout high school and college and has directed productions of John Guare’s Muzeeka, Aeschylus’ The Libation Bearers and Bertolt Brecht’s Baal.

Tickets are $10 for members of the Holy Cross community and $15 for the general public and can be reserved by calling the box office at (508) 793-2496.