Fall 2010 Mainstage Production
Director: Mike Donahue
Producer: Martha Burson
Date of run: November 10-13
Location: University Theatre
In a single night, everything can change. Strippers and anarchists, AIDS and addicts collide amidst snowstorms, inflatable cows, suicidal dogs and, of course, eviction. Redefining the show that defined a generation, this is our RENT. There's no room for fear, and no day but today.
"I am not interested in reproducing a facsimile of the original production. But I am equally uninterested in entirely deconstructing the piece. For me, it's about finding the right balance between the familiar and the new - about honoring it while breathing new life into it. It needs to be a visceral present-tense experience for the audience that maintains the heart and impulse of the original. Rent is a show about hope. About not dwelling in fear, but seizing the moment, because you never know what's coming next. It's about the power of love and human connection to overcome the greatest fears. And though there are a lot details/circumstances in the show that are very much rooted in its period, the message of the show is universal and timeless. In this time of financial insecurity, when everyone has no idea where the next job might come from, when healthcare has become impossible for over 13 million young Americans, when people are resorting to do-it-yourself healthcare - the problems of this show are still problems we can understand - and we still have a need to find hope, and to make work about hope."
| Mike Donahue | Director |
| Martha Burson | Producer |