Sunday, January 3, 2010

An Invitation to the Alphabet City Avant Garde

Welcome 2010. How do you measure a year?

It’s hard to believe that rehearsals are now finally underway for RENT. We are looking forward to a fantastic experience…first for the cast, staff, and crew…but then also for the audiences who ultimately join us for the performances in February.

Because RENT is a show about community, I am inviting the cast and rehearsal staff to become contributors to this blog. This can be our forum for sharing thoughts about the show and about the process as it moves along. Those who wish are invited to post anything they’d like to share.

Viva la vie boheme!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanks! Silly Joel pays the RENT

Thanks to everyone who came out for “Silly Joel Pays the RENT” at The Plaza on Wednesday night, a fundraiser to pay for professional-quality sound equipment for the Springfield Theatre Centre’s production of RENT. Illinois’ #1 Billy Joel cover band, Silly Joel, treated the crowd to a host of Billy Joel favorites (and others) and also invited the cast of RENT up to the front to sing the RENT anthem “Seasons of Love”, fronted by Natalie Randall and Sean Michael Butler. In true pass-the-hat style, cast members encouraged audience members to drop their $1s, $5s, $10s, and $20s into the box to contribute toward the cause. Thanks to The Plaza for providing the location and for generously contributing the first $250 toward the effort. In total, $834.47 was raised, which will go a long way toward the rental of equipment that will improve the experience of our production for all audience members. Thanks, everyone!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cast & Staff of STC's RENT

RENT will be performed at Hoogland Center for the Arts February 12-14 & 19-21, 2010.

CAST:

Mark Cohen – Michael Jones

Roger Davis – Ralph Shank

Tom Collins – Sean Michael Butler

Benjamin Coffin III – Kellen Fant

Angel Dumott Shunard – Grant Estes

Mimi Márquez – Anna Bussing

Joanne Jefferson – Natalie Randall

Maureen Johnson – Mary Kate Smith

Male Ensemble – Jacob Deters, Keith Mallory, John Sivak, Kelly Trier, Lawrence Valdez

Female Ensemble – Becky Bertram, Samantha Gaines, Tia Lang, Lindsey Ninmer

STAFF:

Director – Carly Shank

Assistant Director – Mac Warren

Vocal Director – Christie Lazarides

Accompanist/Musical Director – Dave Barnes

Choreographer – Elizabeth Cheney

Artistic Associate – Craig Williams II

Stage Manager – Nicole Sylvester

Set Designer – Todd Schumacher

Costume Designer – Julianne Shoopman

Lighting Designer – Scott Madaski

Assistant Lighting Designer/Board Operator – Adam Grogan

Sound – Daniel Shelton

Props Coordinator – Jen Wallner

Producer – Pam Brown

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

RENT: How did we get here?

I've found a very thorough article about the creation of RENT. While it may not shed particular light on the upcoming local production, most RENT enthusiasts will find at least a few new thought-provoking gems. Here’s the article.

Among new morsels *I* discovered in this article is the idea that Jonathan Larson was challenged and then took great pains to hone the idea of RENT into a single sentence (this was when the writing of the show was not as focused as the show we now know). Here’s the sentence he ultimately came to:

"Rent is about a community celebrating life, in the face of death and AIDS, at the turn of the century."

I really like the use of the word “community”. Larson doesn’t say that the show is about “a group of young people in NYC” or “a bunch of bohemian artists” or even “a group of friends”. It is a community, where every person plays their part to contribute toward the whole. A friend of mine told me recently that she used to think that Benny was the “enemy” in RENT. I used to feel that way too, but have come to recognize that even though Benny may be an enemy in the eyes of several of the other characters, his role in the show is not that of ultimate enemy. Some of the inner demons the other characters fight are certainly more significant as enemies. Indeed, Benny just represents a different viewpoint about achieving a successful life – one with which the other characters don’t necessarily agree. That’s all just part of RENT being about a community in which each individual plays an important part. And Benny hasn’t completely abandoned the ideals of the other characters; it is good to have someone to pay for Angel’s funeral and Mimi’s rehab.

“Celebrating life, in the face of death” is something I’ve already discussed previously in this blog. RENT isn’t about death; it’s about life. This is why Mimi doesn’t die at the musical’s conclusion, even though we know that her death is inevitable. Instead, the turn of events in the last few moments of the show is about Roger and others deciding to live each moment as if it were the last.

“AIDS” and “at the turn of the century”: again, I’ve touched on this before in this blog, but while AIDS was a terrifyingly significant force in the American 1990s of RENT, the fact that it is no longer the American terror that it once was does not mean that RENT has lost its relevance. As time goes on, our threatening societal demons shift and take on other forms. Just as La Bohème’s death-threat was consumption, a known force at the turn of the twentieth century, AIDS was the threat in the final few years before the turn of the millennium.

But the “turn of the century” perspective is not just about AIDS. It is refreshing to know that Larson was already thinking about the potential staying power of RENT when he wrote this sentence describing it. Otherwise he might have identified the time period of the play as “present day”. It is more than just AIDS that sets the time period of the piece and it is more than just AIDS that has changed about the world since Jonathan Larson’s death. Just as the play captures only a snapshot in the lives of some unfinished individuals, it also captures only a snapshot of life at the end of the millennium; I challenge you to find those defining elements about that moment in time.

Auditions for Springfield Theatre Centre's RENT will be held on Saturday, November 7 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts with callbacks on Sunday, November 8. Please email me, Carly Shank, at carlyshank@yahoo.com to schedule an audition time for November 7. Walk-ins will be welcome on the day of auditions but will be scheduled as time allows around those who have pre-scheduled their auditions. Auditionees must be at least 16 years of age on the day of auditions.

Please check the RENT blog for more information about auditions and the show as it becomes available at http://rentatstc.blogspot.com/.

Monday, October 5, 2009

An article reflecting on RENT

Like most of us who have been inspired by RENT, I have savored whatever I could read, watch or collect about the creation of the original Broadway production for many years. One of my favorites from among those gems has been this unassuming article by Anthony Tommasini; I have kept a printout of since it first ran in April 2006, ten years after RENT opened on Broadway.

Mr. Tommasini is the New York Times critic who watched a dress rehearsal and interviewed Jonathan Larson just a few hours before Larson died. The article contains brief reflections about an original cast ten-year reunion performance, the Chris Columbus film, and the sheer scope of what RENT has become. Here’s the article.

Auditions for Springfield Theatre Centre's RENT will be held on Saturday, November 7 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts with callbacks on Sunday, November 8. Please email me, Carly Shank, at carlyshank@yahoo.com to schedule an audition time for November 7. Walk-ins will be welcome on the day of auditions but will be scheduled as time allows around those who have pre-scheduled their auditions. Auditionees must be at least 16 years of age on the day of auditions.

Please check the RENT blog for more information about auditions and the show as it becomes available at http://rentatstc.blogspot.com/.


Sunday, September 20, 2009

Early thoughts on RENT...

Midway through the fall quarter of my junior year at Northwestern, our Musical Theater Techniques instructor told us about a new musical theater work that was being developed in New York, possibly headed for Broadway. The show was based on the story of the opera La Bohème and it was the brainchild of a young composer/lyricist who had a distinct idea about bringing relevance to musical theater for a younger, artistically-driven generation by blending it with the world of rock. The characters, setting, language and plot themes (including AIDS) were not the stuff of traditional musical theater. But musical theater had been originally conceived as a widespread, “popular” art form, so discussion about this new work made sense in the context of our fall course, as we wound our way chronologically through the catalogues of George M. Cohan, the Gershwins, and Rodgers & Hammerstein, all popular artists in their day, but now the stuff of “important” American music and theater history.

In late January, a couple weeks into the second quarter of the course, our instructor brought us the sobering news: Jonathan Larson, the young composer/creator of RENT had died suddenly and completely unexpectedly…not of AIDS, but of an aneurysm. I remember that the news created a frustrated sigh and grunt of disbelief around the room. Jonathan Larson had already been introducing himself as “the future of musical theater” to the likes of Stephen Sondheim and others, and even though we’d not yet heard a note of RENT, our instructor’s enthusiasm for the project had already made us feel like it was going to be true…and now he was gone.

That June, RENT won the Tony Award for Best Musical and before we convened for our senior year that fall, my classmates and I had all committed the two-disc soundtrack to memory and assumed “Seasons of Love” as a collective anthem for our last year together. The characters of Jonathan Larson’s story were a community of unfinished artists, as we were, and the year the story captured was filled with pain and heartbreak, but also intense passion and self-discovery. Those were very real emotions that year for all of us, deepening our connection to RENT.

I remember feeling at the time that Jonathan Larson, at age 35, certainly must have been *too old* to be telling his own present story at the time RENT was produced, but I have since realized that the characters of RENT are not defined by their age, but by the choices and realities of their lifestyle. The characters are all unmarried with no children and they choose to spend holidays with each other instead of with extended or even immediate family. Most are artists of one kind or another and at least some of them have trouble financially because of that choice. And without a doubt, these artists are committed to a fault to remaining true to themselves. Now that I am only one year away from Larson’s age at the time of his death, I recognize that a person can always carry those personal and artistic ideals, no matter what their age.

Some define RENT as an already-dated “AIDS play” because while AIDS certainly remains an important concern today, it is not nearly as much of a death sentence to the artistic community as it was in the early 1990s of RENT. Jonathan Larson didn’t die of AIDS and yet on a very real level, the loss of his life is the most tragic associated with this show. If it’s not AIDS, it’s consumption (as was the case with the character of Mimi in La Bohème) or it’s something else; we are always losing artists before they have realized their full potential. I would argue that while RENT’s legacy will always include the impact of AIDS, it is the mantra of “No Day But Today” that stays with all of us and will stay with future audiences long after the show’s final notes. While the show doesn’t end with Mimi’s death, we know that she *will* die because in the AIDS of the 1990s, death was inevitable. Still, for Roger to finally fully embrace that he can and should live each moment with Mimi as if it could be the last (just as Collins and Angel lived every moment) is enough closure for us.

I feel humbled to have been given the opportunity to direct RENT for the Springfield Theatre Centre in the upcoming season. Information and thoughts about the production will be posted at http://rentatstc.blogspot.com/. Please check the blog for audition details and other information as it becomes available.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

RENT Auditions

Auditions for Springfield Theatre Centre's RENT will be held on Saturday, November 7 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts with callbacks on Sunday, November 8. Please email director Carly Shank at carlyshank@yahoo.com to schedule an audition time for November 7. Walk-ins will be welcome on the day of auditions but will be scheduled as time allows around those who have pre-scheduled their auditions. Auditionees must be at least 16 years of age on the day of auditions.

Auditionees should prepare a one-minute pop, rock, or Broadway audition song. A piano accompanist will be provided; please bring sheet music for the accompanist. Please select a piece that demonstrates your vocal range and performance ability; your audition selection absolutely does not need to be from RENT. For callbacks, however, vocal selections from RENT will be briefly reviewed and performed, so it is a good idea to be prepared to sing from the show’s score.

A headshot and resume are not required. An audition form will enable you to disclose information about your training and experience.

Roles are available for 9 men and 6 women. The roles are:
Mark Cohen – a filmmaker
Roger Davis – a songwriter
Tom Collins – a gay philosophy professor and anarchist
Benjamin Coffin III – former roommate-turned-landlord of Roger, Mark, Collins, and Maureen
Angel Dumott Schunard – a gay drag queen percussionist
Mimi Márquez – an exotic dancer
Joanne Jefferson – a lesbian lawyer
Maureen Johnson – a bisexual performance artist
Plus 4 men and 3 women who play multiple characters including Mark’s mom, Alexi Darling, participants in the “Life Support” group, and others.

Rehearsals for RENT will begin with occasional vocal rehearsals scheduled throughout November and December. Staging rehearsals will begin on Monday, December 28. Rehearsals will generally be held Monday through Friday evenings.

RENT will be performed February 12-14, and 19-21 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts.

The Springfield Theatre Centre is a volunteer organization. No actors or artistic staff will be paid for their services. For additional information about the production as it becomes available, please check this blog.