The Huron Players are performing “Rent” this weekend. Performances are from Friday Feb. 21 to Sunday Feb. 23.
Due to its sensitive topics the Huron Production did it’s best to keep to the storyline while working not to cross the administrative line. The cast and crew worked their hardest to produce the show to the best of their ability, and were able to gain new experiences as they followed the story of “Rent.”
“Rent” is very controversial, because it is about an epidemic that impacted very stigmatized groups with a very slow response to help from the government,” Junior Madeleine Pale said. “The content of the show includes drugs, sexuality, and death, which are very real topics that can be hard to face. They aren’t romanticized, and the Life Support Group is based on real people in the life of Jonathan Larson.”
Originally written by Jonathan Larson the show was first performed off-broadway in 1996 before being quickly called up to broadway due to its enormity as a cultural phenomenon. The show follows the lives of a group of artists in the East Village in New York City during the AIDS epidemic. The tough-around-the-edges narrative, multigenerational and multiracial company, love, loss, and survival, the result was a long-running Broadway play, winning multiple Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.
“It’s understandable that there are worries about how appropriate the show is for a high school theater group to put on,” Pale said. “However, I trust that the Huron administration will recognize our hard work and efforts in putting on this show. We’ve tried to change as little as possible to keep it real. All of us involved in this show have an obligation to do it justice and bring these issues into the light.”
In addition to maintaining the core meaning of Rent in respect to administrative challenges, doing the show justice on a high school stage ignited determination in the Huron Players director Clarence Collins III.
“Our director has always loved this show, and expected us to go beyond what a typical high school theater group could do in order to really bring this show to life,” Pale said. “This show is so different from one such as Beauty and the Beast from last year. This one carries so much more meaning and legacy, and honestly means more to many people involved in the show and to those coming to see it.”
Times for their record breaking 5 shows include, Friday Feb. 21 at 7pm, Saturday Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Performance costs for students are $10, seniors and veterans are $15, and the open public costs $20.
