Lights, Music, Action! Students Perform "Rent" on Campus Stage

By Emily Kopac

There are many different types of media but one popular type is live media, like sporting events, TV shows, speakers, and theater. Theater is a live event that our own school offers. This year our school musical was “Rent.” I attended the “Rent” dress rehearsal and being a fan of Broadway and of the show “Rent,” I was excited to see students put on this production.

“Rent” is a show that follows a group of people, some of whom are sick with AIDS. They are poor and can’t afford to pay their rent. “Rent” also shows many different types of people and relationships, having a transgender person, a gay couple, a lesbian couple and a straight couple. The story of “Rent” shows and talks about things that everyone can relate to and the audience can feel for the characters and the struggles they have to overcome. They are trying not to get evicted and the show follows the story of their life and the problems they have to overcome.

I did not know what to expect going into the show, having only seen the Broadway production. I wasn’t sure if the school had to change anything because it would be considered inappropriate or if they would be allowed to keep everything. I was also excited to see the staging and the costumes. Because I went to the dress rehearsal, I thought that the cast would not be their best because they were still practicing, but from start to end the whole cast did everything perfectly and they seemed like they were having a lot of fun while doing the show.

The students performing in the show all seemed like they really cared about what they were doing, and being in the audience you could see how much they all cared about what they were doing. The audience was also able to see how much fun they had during this production and you could see how close they all were; which I think is an important part of being in a show, you want the audience to really be able to see and feel that the actors are all friends and that they want to be there doing what they are doing. If actors acted like they didn’t want to be onstage performing, then the audience wouldn’t feel for their characters and in this production every single actor made it obvious that they wanted to be there, they were having fun, and they were proud of all their hard work.

Being a fan of musical theater and not so much a sports fan, I think it is great that our school puts on plays and musicals as an event that others can attend that isn’t a sporting event. This was the first show I attended at STAC and it didn’t disappoint. I enjoyed every second of this performance and I enjoyed seeing how much fun the students had putting on this production.
   

Emily Kopac is a communication arts student at St. Thomas Aquinas College with a goal of working at a television studio after graduation.