playbill vip

Notes from the Director

How can you have a love/hate relationship for a show like RENT?  Easy.  Spend years listening to 'RENTheads' singing the material every day since its premiere in 1996, seeing countless productions over the years, getting callbacks a total of 13 times as a struggling actor on Broadway during your early 20's, hold auditions where people only sing songs from the show, bump into friends in the Broadway production tour, perform in the show in different incarnations and theaters, etc etc.  But then there's life.  There's listening to the beautiful words of Jonathan Larson and his legacy that he left behind.  It's finding the truth in the words and music and relating it to people you love or lost along the way.  It's finding out about love, what love can bring- or break.  The realization that we are all on this earth on borrowed time.  And that every day is a gift, a mystery, a revelation and a dream come true.  This cast has survived a number of personal losses this past year, and also a slew of newfound friendships in each other.  When casting this show, it was absolutely necessary to commit to a group of people who truly knew the meaning behind the word 'ENSEMBLE', and being there for one another- NOT because you wanted a lead role- or NOT about egos- but about giving of yourself and expressing a desire to share that pain as a community and make THAT the driving force of the show.   I am SO HAPPY that this cast understands that.  AND that they were willing to do anything that was thrown their way.  Argus Eyes grew very tight this year- and I hope you can see that love and friendship on stage when RENT is performed for you.   So this is a little gift for all of us to share with you.  And we share it proudly with a sense of community and pride, acceptance and most of all,... LOVE.    How do you measure YOUR life in love? Sometimes we are so busy with our egos and initial problems that we are blinded by the overall picture.  That we are 'renting' time on earth.  So i ask that every day- you live it with compassion, thought and kindness because you never know when it all might be over.  So today- I love RENT.  I love it because it means the world to me that this cast can carry these memories forever- and hoping that you can take of it what you will as well.    Peace.