An exclusive sneak peek at Sandbox Night: ‘Spring Awakening’
Sandbox Night refers to an open rehearsal, a full run-through, of an upcoming play produced by The Sandbox Collective. To kick off 2026 and the first production of The Sandbox Collective’s new artistic director, Sab Jose, is the Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening.” This daring coming-of-age rock musical was written by Steven Sater (book and lyrics) and Duncan Sheik (music) and is based on an 1891 German play called “Spring Awakening” by Frank Wedekind.
Set in 19th century Germany, “Spring Awakening” follows a group of adolescents who are discovering their sexuality under the watchful eyes of a very rigid, very conservative religious town and a very demanding school. Without proper education or guidance from parental figures, the youths struggle in navigating their feelings, their desires, and their need for truth.
The award-winning musical was bold and daring—and from what I’ve been told, the original Broadway show had partial nudity (butt and breasts) and a masturbation sequence.
A diverse cast to watch out for
The Sandbox Collective’s production of “Spring Awakening,” directed by Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, will feature alternate casts. And the run-through I saw had Nacho Tambunting as Melchior (alternate is Alex Diaz), Omar Uddin as Moritz (alternate is Nic Chien), and Sheena Belarmino as Wendla (no alternate). All the adult characters are played by Audie Gemora (no alternate) and Ana Abad Santos (alternate Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo).
I have seen Belarmino before in “Next to Normal” and think she’s amazing. Uddin was incredible in both “Next to Normal” and all three runs of “Bar Boys: The Musical” that I’ve seen. So their talent was not unexpected.
Tambunting, whom I have not seen since “The Producers” back in 2012, was a revelation. Melchior is ultimately the lead character of the play, and he manages to really hold the entire thing together. There’s an earnestness and authenticity about him that really makes the character work.
Also catching my eye is Angia Laurel as Martha. My eyes kept drifting towards her, and she portrayed the character with so much verve. It was a shock for me when I learned this would be her first musical performance, if ever. She’s one to watch out for.
An audience close to his heart
I had the chance to sit down with Tambunting after rehearsal to talk about the role and where he has been since “The Producers.” It was the last show he did before leaving for America to take up a BFA at Tisch in New York City. He is a working actor in New York, appearing on television (“Rise,” “Dickinson,” and “First Wives Club”) and the stage (“Felix Starro,” “The Play You Want,” and “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night”).
He started in children’s theater with “The Sound of Music” (also with Lauchengco-Yulo and Gemora) and had his first lead role as Jack in “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Talking about his body of work, he says, “I think this is my first lead role in Philippine theater. I did ‘Felix Starro’ off-Broadway, and I played the lead.” He also admits to feeling “extra pressure” for his comeback performance here at home because he feels he has “to kind of deliver and show what I’ve learnt.”
“And it is more meaningful to me because I’m sharing it with an audience that is close to my heart: the Filipino audience. And also my friends and family who have not seen me perform for 12 years,” he adds.
Being Melchior
He related to Melchior in so many ways because he shares that he has gotten into “a lot of trouble for the things that I’ve said” and admits to being “a little outspoken.”
There’s a lot of Melchior in Tambunting, and vice versa, it seems. “It’s a beautiful role,” he says, relating to the character’s “rebellious… inquisitive nature, his philosophical temperament, the intellectualism that he has, always searching for meaning and truth, and the way that he stands up to authority as well.”
Tambunting may be living and working abroad, but his heart is here in the country. And what he likes about working on this play—aside from working with Pamintuan and Lauchengco-Yulo—is how the material “encourages people to question and not to take things at face value. And it is important to use our intellect because it was given to us.”
Pushing boundaries on pressing matters
For Pamintuan, doing this show allowed him to really push the boundaries and talk about very difficult things happening in our world, our country, in this political climate.
He says, “While the play is set in 1890s Germany, the situations we are presenting are very real now. We are dealing with adolescence and doing self-harm because of pressures in school. We hear that in the news. My sister was telling me in the hospital that she works with teenage girls who are going to the hospital—about to give birth—and they don’t even know they are pregnant.”
Pamintuan is so happy to be working on this play again—he had previously done so in 2019 for Ateneo Blue Repertory—now that he’s more mature and has more experience under his belt.
When he was offered to direct the play last year in April, he immediately got to work. “I’ve been doing a lot of research and working closely with my AD (art director) because it’s going to be irresponsible if we handle this material just like any other musical,” he says. “For us, it was important for the actors to take ownership of the material. What makes it relevant is if they truly understand what it means to portray these characters.”
Navigating the risque
Pamintuan didn’t want to exploit the show’s risque elements for an easy marketing tool. “There is a difference between exploring sexuality versus being sexy,” he explains.
“That’s what I wanted to veer away from. It’s a different time, and it’s a different cast, and there’s a new opportunity to push the show and see what comes out,” Pamintuan says.
“For the risque parts, we are working with an intimacy director—Missy Maramara—who directed the show for Blue Rep in 2019, so we are grateful to have her to provide tools for the actors,” he shares. “That way, during rehearsal, they can use those tools as placeholders for things like the touching of the breasts or a kiss.”
And will we get to see these risque parts on the Philippine stage? “In terms of how far we’ll go, as far as the actors are comfortable and if it makes sense in the storytelling,” he shares.
“The actors are ready and have expressed that they are willing to bare their breasts and do whatever, but will we do it? We’ll find out. Because baka naman hindi kailangan!”
