Showcase Merge: Rent

Showcase Merge (9th – 12th) – Strictly Enforced
Meets Saturdays, starting November 18, 2023, 10:00am – 1:00pm / Shows: February 23-25, 2024
Rent – Fall 2023 Production

Set in the East Village of New York City, Rent is about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rent has become a pop cultural phenomenon. with songs that rock and a story that resonates with audiences of all ages.

Based loosely on Puccini’s La Boheme, Jonathan Larson’s Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom and Angel. Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble. Benny has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends. Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general. How these young bohemians negotiate their dreams, loves and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this groundbreaking musical.

Showcase Players is designed for high school students with or without experience in theatre. This group will challenge students to reach new barriers in their skill set. Students will be pushed in character development, choreography, voice projection, and working with props and a set. Students will not only create scenes but will experience the energy of acting as an ensemble. At the end of the program, students will showcase their new abilities on the stage.