Q&A: She sang of abuse in a Broadway smash. 15 years on, she reveals she's a survivor too
"Spring Awakening: Those You've Known" recounts how, over 15 years ago, an angsty rock musical won eight Tony Awards and launched the careers of its young cast, including Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff, Skylar Astin, Lilli Cooper and John Gallagher Jr. Based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 drama, the Broadway phenomenon from Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater centered on adolescents who asked questions about taboo topics like sexual development and mental health, and the authoritarian adults who refused to answer them.
In the documentary, premiering May 3 on HBO, Lauren "LOLO" Pritchard — an original cast member who became a singer and songwriter after "Spring Awakening" — speaks about playing the character of Ilse, who ran away from a colony of artists who sexually abused her.
"That is so many f— people's reality," she says, disclosing publicly for the first time that she survived years of sexual abuse by a family member starting when she was 4 years old. "And singing about it is f— weird."
From her home in Jackson, Tennessee, Pritchard, who will perform her first major role since "Spring Awakening" in the new country musical "May We All" this summer, tells The Times why she decided to share her experience
