Directed by Julia Deter (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Old Man and The Old Moon), the production makes stunning use of The Umbrella Arts Center’s newly constructed, state-of-the-art Main Stage Theater144. The design immerses us in the lives of a group of impoverished artists and friends in NYC’s East Village as they struggle through the AIDS epidemic and financial hardship to follow their dreams without selling out.
Winner of the Tony for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Rent” has achieved classic status, its themes of love, discrimination, finding one’s voice, and living La Vie Boheme in the face of uncertainty and enormous loss resonating anew with audiences today.
“The particulars of this late-Eighties re-envisioning of La Boheme may be of its time,” says Producing Artistic Director Brian Boruta. “But the experience of isolation, fear and courage amidst epidemic, gender discrimination, eviction, economic and social inequities has new currency for us all in 2022.”
The production stars Temma Beaudreau as Maureen, Brian Demar Jones as Tom, Maria Norris as Joanne, Dominic Pecikonis as Angel, Isa Sanchez as Mimi, Errol Service, Jr. as Mark, Jake Smerechniak as Roger, and Jared Troilo as Benjamin, and features John Breen, Vanessa Calantropo, Shani Farrell, Eleni Kontzamanys, Emily Lambert, H.C. (Len) Lee, Alex Massarotti, Kara Chu Nelson and David Rodrigues.
“Rent” will run Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., with a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee. Purchase tickets at TheUmbrellaArts.org or 978-371-0820 x209. Senior, Student, and Group prices are available.