This freezing cold weekend will offer opportunities to warm up your insides with a chili cook-off, enjoy the fresh air in an outdoor run, or even adopt a dog to snuggle up with.
But first, a coming-of-age rock musical production put on by mostly young adults.
'Spring Awakening' presented by Scranton Shakespeare Festival
"Spring Awakening" is a dramatic musical with heavy subject matters. The group that decided to take this on has a special connection.
With the exception of two actors playing adult characters, the 18- to 21-year-old actors are all alumni of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival’s youth ensemble program.

Lizzie Newcomb Gumula is the director of the production and director of education for the performing arts nonprofit. It was her idea to bring alumni of the program together for a performance as it prepares for its fifth season in 2025.
“The goal is to engage them with the community and to keep them involved with Scranton Shakes, because they kind of will become the educators, in a way," she said.
She brought the idea to Kelly Jean Graham and Stephen Murphy, also instructors for the summer program for high school students.
“I said, ‘Say no more, I'm in,’” said Graham, who choreographed this show and plays the adult woman. “It was one of the first shows where the choreography, they were using more modern stylistics than like big Broadway kind of dance steps… And I just remember being so moved by it and the story and the music.”
With many of the cast in college, they put on the entire production in between semesters. Stephen Murphy, the music director, calls the experience rewarding.
“It's brilliant to watch how each actor grows individually, and how they grow as castmates,” Murphy said.
“This really sort of holds a really resonant place with that age group, because it's very accessible, like rock music, rock pop, rock score, while still having elevated text and something they could really sink their teeth into as actors,” he added.
Spring Awakening includes violence, sexual content and other raw depictions of the adolescent experience.
"[The play] tackles a lot of very heavy subjects, but I feel it definitely handles them in a tasteful way," said Ethan Symuleski, who plays Melchior Gabor. "It's a very heavy show, but it's also a very, very beautiful show with a lot of very realistic and relatable characters."
Scranton Shakespeare Festival will collect menstrual products at each performance in partnership with the Catherine McAuley Center and Friends of the Poor. Packets will also be available, detailing resources for women’s health, mental health, domestic violence and other themes of the show.
“We're also doing talk backs after every show with the cast and the crew and representatives from the [Catherine] McAuley center to kind of just connect the themes of the show to our world,” Gumula said.
Spring Awakening
Fri. & Sat. at 7 p.m.
Sunday at 1 p.m.
Scranton Shakes Space
The Marketplace at Steamtown
300 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton
Other events:
- Shiver by the River: Scranton Running Co. will host a 5K, 10K and 2-mile walk on the Lackawanna Heritage Trail. The races start at 10 a.m. Saturday, with registration from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m.
- Adoption Event: Rescue Pets Serving Vets will be at Green Dog Barkery in Wyoming on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Adoption fees will be waived for veterans, but anyone can adopt.
- Yoga for a cause: Zen with Zegley will teach a one-hour yoga class at the Orioles Community Center in Lehighton Saturday at 9 a.m. The fee will be contributed to the Carbon County Community Foundation's Fund for Carbon County.
- Firehouse Chili Cook-off: The Germania Hose Company in Duryea invites the public to try several recipes and pick a winner. Tickets will be sold at the door for $20 cash and the event runs from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.