4B- Thursday, November 21, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

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TERESA MArHEW/Daily
"RENT" is attracting a diverse range of student performers, from the Residential College to the School of Engineering. The production looks to examine darker topics geared around an honest discussion of HIV/AIDS.

MUSKET provides aspiring performers a medium for their art before entering professional productions.

The production is often identified as the musical for our generation.

MUSKET
From Page lB
In an unassuming rehears-
al space in the hinterlands of
South Campus, distressed gar-
bage cans stand at the ready
in one corner and backpacks
are strewn across another. In
the center, 16 students wait to
transform into AIDS-afflicted,
poverty-ridden, fatally idealis-
tic New Yorkers.
Before the acclaimed musical
starts, each actor takes hold of a
piece of scaffolding, pushingthe
set into place until a bare loft
centered around a dingy couch
comes alive. They begin to sing,
and as the music swells, their
Wolverine garb and fresh faces
fade away.
When School of Music,
Theatre & Dance senior Ryan
Vasquez, playing lost musician
Roger Davis, puts down his gui-
tar to back away from Mimi's
seductions, you can barely see a
tattoo of the Block 'M' peeking
from behind his shirt. This is
the heart of the University, just
in a context not always associ-
ated with it.
This is "RENT" as imagined
by MUSKET, the student-run
musical theater organization on

campus. MUSKET is made up
entirely of students, and is cur-
rently run by producers Ryan
Lucas and Hannah Rosenthal,
both performing arts manage-
ment seniors in MT&D. The pro-
gram puts on one musical each
semester that premieres to an
audience of around 1,300 people
in the Power Center for the Per-
forming Arts.
"MUSKET is this amazing
opportunity and this amazing
pool of resources," Lucas said.
"We get to use it to experiment,
create, make mistakes, grow as
leaders and create material that
is so fun and accessible for the
University."
As the producers and only
members of MUSKET that don't
rotate from show to show, Lucas
and Rosenthal were tasked with
electing which musicals to per-
form this year.
"We look for something that
we think that people are not
only going to be excited to be
in but that the campus will be
excited to see," Rosenthal said.
"RENT" is often identified
as the ultimate musical for our
generation - for so many per-
formers it's the reason they fell
in love with musical theater.
Lucas and Rosenthal both have
felt connected to the show since
childhood, and say everyone,

regardless of background, can
relate.
More than just a show
MT&D junior Sam Yabrow
first heard "RENT" in middle
school, riding in the backseat
of his mother's car. He would
only sing along to character
Mark Cohen's lines, and now he
is reprising the role of warm-
hearted and neurotic Mark,
albeit in a grander format.
Rosenthal was an unusually
short eighth grader when her
dad took her to see the movie
in theaters; the patrons around
them were shocked to see this
diminutive little girl watching
that "show about AIDS." She
says she understands the themes
so much better now - and
understands why others were so
disapproving.
"RENT" 's often stigmatized
as "that one play about HIV/
AIDS" - a practice in extremes
and impossibilities rather than
vivid humanity.
"When you saw the musi-
cal for the first time you were
like 'Oh, it's about AIDS, every-
one dies of AIDS,' but there is
so much more to it than that,"
Lucas said.
Written by Jonathon Larson
in the late 1980s and early '90s,
"RENT" chronicles a group of
artists and activists surviv-
ing in New York's East Village.
While many are infected with
HIV, the virus isn't the preemi-
nent theme of the story. Charac-
ters fall in and out of love, they
sell out, they protest, they lose
power just as they lose friends.
As MT&D junior Adam
Quinn, the show's director, puts
it, "'RENT' is about community.
It's about love. It's about accep-
tance. It's about finding light in
the darkness."
Larson passed away the day
of the show's original debut, and
since then the musical theater
community has revered "RENT,"
placing his work on a pedestal.
Directors can be wary of chang-
ing the show in any way, afraid
of desecrating the image Larson
initially created. However, Quinn
wanted to revamp this produc-
tion, casting away some of the
tropes that have become stale
over the course of 20 years.
"Any production you see, you
see Mark's plaid scarf, and Rog-
er's plaid pants, and Mimi wear-
ing the ridiculous blue leggings,
and all the staging is the exact
same," he said.
This summer, he tore into the
script, trying to understand the
driving desires of each character.
He wanted to do justice to Lar-
son's masterpiece but in a fresh
way. While no changes were
made to the script, he completely
reworked the staging and casting
of the production.
The production team audi-
tioned more than 300 students -

the largest number in MUSKET
history - for 16 roles, consolidat-
ing 45 ensemble parts into just
eight.
This intimacy and fluid-
ity between characters illustrates
just how universal the situations
in "RENT" are. LSA freshman
Nick Shaheen plays a drug dealer
in one scene then swiftly trans-
forms into the HIV support group
leader in the next.
By doing away with some of the
oft-used symbols of the musical,
Quinn hopes to surprise students
who love "RENT" and invigorate
those who aren't familiar with it.
Uncommon dedication
MUSKET rehearses at the
Student Theater Arts Complex,
a small, unremarkable building
tucked next to Michigan Stadi-
um. During their rehearsal times,
7 p.m. to 11 p.m. six days a week,
the area feels unreal - astill, cold
land bowing under the giant M.
It makes these students' commit-
ment seem all the more extraor-
dinary, as they spend 24 hours a
week rehearsing far from Central
Campus.
"You know when you are going
to do a show, especially like this,
that you really are in it so much
and you are investing so much
into the material," Vasquez said.
"There is going to be some wear
and tear on your voice, on your
body, on your emotional state, on
everything."
It's hard to imagine how it's
worth it, but for so many actors,
producers, crew members and
musicians, it's an integral part
of life. Talking with them isn't
like having a conversation with
an average student about their
extracurricular. Their commit-
ment is founded in an intense love
for what they do and for "RENT"
itself.
"For me this is so much greater
than my schoolwork, which is
bad, but this is what I love to do,"
LSA senior Kaci Friss, who plays
Joanne Jefferson, said.
Many MUSKET students plan
on going into musical theater, in
some role, for a living - so this is
their chance to show their abili-
ties without the pressures of a
career.
"In a professional setting you
have adults who have done this
a million times and they are just
sort of phoning it in," Vasquez
said. "But right now for every-
body this is sort of their shot to
get it right."
During a routine run-through
of the show Quinn intently takes
notes, muttering approval or
frustration under his breath.
Between acts, some actors whip
out their phones, finding respite
from the emotional wallop of the
show in Instagram, while others
stand to the side practicing their
songs with closed eyes.
MUSKET isn't a club. It isn't a
job - everyone is quick to point

out that they aren't getting paid.
MUSKET is an outlets for tal-
ented and ambitious students to
do what they are most passionate
about.
Diverse love of theater
Lucas and Rosenthal discussed
how campus - in particular
hordes of girls - has reacted to
the premiere of "RENT." There's
a special Greek-life package, cut-
ting down ticket prices ifa sorori-
ty or fraternity buys more than 30
tickets for their chapter. Walking
into the sorority houses proved
just how prevalent the story still
is.
"The moment you say the word
"RENT" people would be like
'Ahhh!' and all these girls would
be screaming," said Lucas.
More than some MUSKET
shows in the past, "RENT" incites
passion in its audience. People
connect to the show on so many
levels, regardless of their own
experiences.
"It's not just people who have
AIDS or who are living in this
bohemian lifestyle who can relate
to this," said LSA junior Kimberly
Hay, who plays Maureen John-
son. "I think it really speaks to
young people, and then you grow
up and it's still just so beautiful
and wonderful."
The universality of the show
not only brings a fresh vitality
to the performances, but is aug-
mented by having a cast with
diverse backgrounds.
While many cast members are
theater veterans, the production
is peppered with first-timers and
non-performance majors.
"I think the part we enjoy the
most is when we have someone
come into audition, and they are
an engineer, a political science
major, something completely ran-
dom -and they just end up being
incredible," Rosenthal said.
Engineering freshman Chani
Wereley plays Mimi Marquez, the
unpredictable and fragile young
stripper. When she belts out, her
talent is indistinguishable from
the performance majors.
"Chani has the most killer
voice," Rosenthal said. "She came
in for her audition, and we fell
over."
Though they both would love
to someday go into theater, Hay
is a double major in Drama and
Organizational Studies, while
Friss is studying Communica-
tions.
"MUSKET shows tend to
attract people who are really seri-
ous about what they are doing,"
Hay said. "Who either have been
trained or-have this really raw
special talent, and I really appre-
ciate that. I really learn so much
from all these different people."
However, there are some res-
ervations to working entirely
with students, especially varying
levels of expertise. In a show as
emotionally charged as "RENT"

- encompassing a whole range of
issues from disease and death to
sexuality and poverty - tension
is bound to develop.
"There is a lot of rawnessin the
rehearsal room," Vasquez said.
"There (have) been a lot of tears,
a lot of emotional outbursts and
explosions."
The characters aren't imagi-
nary for these dedicated actors.
Whether they connect with
Roger's need to retreat or Mimi's
naive uncertainty, these students
can't rehearse a scene and walk
away unaffected.
"We have had to take breaks
and come back, but that's the fun
of (it) because if you can't do that
you really are just playing pre-
tend," Vasquez said.
What unites everyone in the
production is an earnest love for
"RENT." Despite the frustra-
tions, fights and creative abrasion
that go along with this show's
heightened emotions, everyone
has parts of the story that they
love.
Students had different answers
for what was their favorite part of
the production: For some it's the
beginning number, and for some
the last. Others highlight a spe-
cific piano note - a melody that
unites two voices at the perfect
moment.
The word "chills" is thrown
around rather cavalierly in their
rehearsal room, but the messag-
es of this musical do cut deeper
than in many other shows. The
MUSKET players admit that they
didn't necessarily understand
these profound themes as chil-
dren watching "RENT" for the
first time.
"Now I am really thinking
about the story," Sheehan said.
"What is it like if you knew you
were going to die in six months?
What is it like when you know
that your friends are going to die
in six months?"
Though Quinn joked that we
shouldn't all want to dwell on
our own mortality after watch-
ing the show, "RENT" does
instill unavoidable introspec-
tion. "No day but today" is the
carpe diem-like tagline of the
show, and in some ways it speaks
to the partially satirical "YOLO"
culture.
"It doesn't mean you should
go do heroin," Yabrow said.
"But definitely think about the
people you have in your life
and what they mean to you, and
how thankful you are for having
them."
In a setting often filled
with competitive individuals,
"RENT" has the ability to unify
performers and audiences in
spite of professional orcircum-
stantial differences. Collectively
a lesson in sex and sorrow, futil-
ity and agency, presence and
ambition, "RENT" is more than
just a show about HIV/AIDS.
As Rosenthal said, "'RENT' is
ultimately about love."

Chani Werely plays stripper Mimi Marquez.

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