Rent at Narberth Community Theatre

For episode three, we're talking about Narberth Community Theatre's production of Rent. We spoke with director Andrew McDermott and the Rent cast and crew about the show, and we get to the bottom of the question everyone is asking ... How, exactly, do you measure a year in a life?

Rent will be playing at Narberth Community Theatre from May 1 to May 16. For tickets and more information, visit https://www.mynct.org/ 

Transcript

SPEAKER_09 0:00

How do you machine? Are you in the night? How about Rehearsal Tracks?

SPEAKER_04 0:26

Rehearsal Tracks.

SPEAKER_12 0:30

Hello and welcome to Rehearsal Tracks. I'm Aliza Furman. And I'm Laura Donnelly. We are here today for episode three. And we are talking about a show rent at Narbirth Community Theater in not currently Narburth, but the Philadelphia Circus School in somewhere in Philadelphia. It's not Chestnut Hill. It's around there. To start with a G? Guest Nut Hill. Guest Nut Hill. That might be harder than someone.

SPEAKER_09 0:57

No, it doesn't count. No. Family Adjacent, Elisa, family adjacent. Oh my goodness. No. You need to stop. It's in Germantown. Germantown. It's in Germantown, Chestnut Hill area. We sat down with director Andrew McDermott.

SPEAKER_12 1:15

And cast members.

SPEAKER_09 1:16

Who I never met.

SPEAKER_12 1:17

No, Lara was not there because she was too busy. And Sweeney Todd, which will have already gone up by the time you're listening to this. And you avid listener have already listened to our Sweeney Todd episode. Of course you have. So before we get into it, can I ask you a question? Okay. How do you measure a year in the life?

SPEAKER_09 1:39

How do I measure a year in the life? Well, the school year definitely dictates a lot of my life. Shows. Usually one in the fall, one in the spring. Yeah, that's about what I do. And then a big long summer vacation where I take an extended trip somewhere. I watch your cat. Yes. That's the arrangement.

SPEAKER_12 1:57

How do you measure a year in the life? Oh golly. I do think shows I definitely build my year around the shows that I'm doing. I also have started last year a job that involves a lot of conferences. And so now I'm measuring a year in the life in the free dinners that I get at these conferences.

SPEAKER_09 2:14

The free dinners? What about meeting the amazing keynote? Oh, that's true. I think that's cool.

SPEAKER_12 2:18

Such as, um yeah, I have shaken the hands of Gina Davis and Mindy Kaling. And those 15-second interactions are how I measure a year in the life. More so than my friendships. Yeah, I think having gone palm to palm with Mindy Kaling is probably more valuable than any friendship I've ever had.

SPEAKER_09 2:35

I mean, it's made me realize I really need to step up my game to continue to be your friend. Because I'm just not meeting people of the same kind of caliber.

SPEAKER_12 2:42

Listen, I do think you're pretty cool, but you were not a 15-second interaction with Mindy Kaling. That's how I measure a year in the life in bounce of seasonal depression. I've heard in times that I'm totally fine. Did you know that? Like I'm actually totally fine, and now that it's spring, like I want I've never been sad.

SPEAKER_09 2:59

How like sunshine makes you realize actually I wasn't depressed. I just needed vitamin D.

SPEAKER_12 3:04

Yeah, exactly. So another thing that we asked a few cast members about, inspired by the scene in rent where they all go to the life cafe and sing La Vie Bohem. And I feel like this is a much better question for you than for me. What is the craziest post-show cast outing that you've ever had? I know you've had so many.

SPEAKER_09 3:23

Yeah, I've had quite a few, but honestly, most are very recent. I was trying to think back actually to other shows, other cast outings that I've done. But to be honest, I think that most of the cast outings that I've ever had have been at somebody's house. Usually somebody with a pool or a hot tub, and we stay in the pool or hot tub until like 11, and then everyone safely drives home. And recently that just has not been the case. So everyone's still driving safely home, hopefully. Oh, yeah. Well, no, actually, I mean, everyone's safe, but a lot of times now we're staying out so late that we're just sleeping there.

SPEAKER_12 3:59

And here is my chance to insert a PSA. Please don't drink and drive.

SPEAKER_09 4:03

No, don't ever drink and drive. Get a Uber, get a DD. Nobody ever drinks and drives. Yes. But the Spring Awakening cast, let's just say it was a younger cast and everyone was down. I would say, hey, should we hang out until 10 a.m. the next day? And then should we keep hanging out until we actually physically die? And they're like, yeah, I'd be so sleepy. I really enjoy when people are down. I enjoy when people follow through. And I enjoy when people are so into the plans that they don't want the plans to stop. Let me think also if I ever had a love you boem moment where everyone at the table was being loud or purposefully committing to the bit. How about anything you've ever just full send commit to the bit in public where you're just like, I don't care what people think. I'm with my friends and I'm gonna have a good time.

SPEAKER_12 4:48

Oh, frequently. I don't know if it's tied to theater. This is so irrelevant. This is so off topic. It doesn't matter. Um but I used to do this thing when I was in high school college age, the greatest international scavenger hunt the world has ever seen, which was a scavenger hunt of photos and videos, and you would get this list. It was a week-long event, people across the world did it. It would be ranging in difficulty levels from make a portrait out of Skittles to go to this specific place in the world at this specific time and await further instructions. And very rarely were we close enough to a place to actually do that. But one year it was go to Times Square and wait for their instructions. And so this was go to Times Square with a Kale Tutu. And that is exactly what we did. I've done a lot of humiliating myself in public for that specifically.

SPEAKER_09 5:45

I don't know, it feels like performance art a la Maureen and over the middle.

SPEAKER_12 5:49

Yeah, exactly. As far as post-show outings, I have definitely not done anything as crazy as the cast of Spring Awakening has, except for the times that I've gone out with the cast of Spring Awakening. I think the most fun cast outing that I've had, other than just going to people's houses and just normal house party fun, was after one show of 12th night the musical, we went to this local dive bar and it just happened to be karaoke night, which is just toxic. It's a bunch of theater people you know we're going to absolutely be destroying the vibe. Perfect storm. We're gonna be singing suddenly Seymour, and everyone else is gonna deal with it. And I'm so sorry to everyone who was there that night, but we had fun.

SPEAKER_09 6:25

You know what? When you go out into public, these are the kinds of interactions that you risk having. Yeah, you know, I'm inflicting myself on other people. And you're welcome. Anyway, all of this is to talk about Rent. I'll tell you what, Andrew had a lot of great things to say about it, so why don't we switch on over and hear what he said?

SPEAKER_12 6:42

Yeah, significantly deeper, more thoughtful, and more insightful than anything we've said. Anyway, enjoy our interview with Andrew and the cast and crew of Rent. All right, so first of all, can you introduce yourself and what you're working on right now?

SPEAKER_05 6:57

Sure thing. Hi, my name is Andrew McDermott, and I am directing Rent at NCT. Thanks for coming, Andrew. Of course, thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_12 7:04

So I wanted to start off with the question that I think everyone is wondering.

SPEAKER_09 7:09

Yeah, and actually, she has said she's kind of previewed this at me, and I am deeply curious. So how many points do I have?

SPEAKER_05 7:17

Oh, I was literally thinking about this on the way over. I don't remember where we left, but surely you've racked up. I was thinking the other day, it was like, has anyone been keeping track of these points about it?

SPEAKER_09 7:26

And so now, can we explain the points? Yeah, you must explain because I have no idea what's going on.

SPEAKER_05 7:30

Yeah, so Aliza and I did a show recently together, a man of no importance at MCT. And uh, I'm sure you've noticed this, but Aliza has a really lot of good, bad jokes. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_09 7:41

Don't tell me it was the puns. Yeah, like dad jokes, really. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 7:45

Some puns, but more just generally like bad jokes.

SPEAKER_09 7:48

Literally the bane of my existence.

SPEAKER_05 7:50

Yeah. So I started a point system of she got points for jokes that were like nothing was actually funny, but but jokes that were like better or like so bad they were good. And she got negative points for like straight up dad jokes. So I just kept it running tally, although I never really kept track. So just whatever number happened to come out of my mouth is what she had.

SPEAKER_12 8:14

My goal was to end that show deep in the negative.

SPEAKER_09 8:18

I'm sure she was close to zero, wasn't she? Yeah, yeah. It was always hovering.

SPEAKER_12 8:21

It was always like between negative two and positive two.

SPEAKER_05 8:24

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_12 8:25

I love that. Oh man. Uh I I unfortunately have fired my my scribe who follows me around writing everything down, they say.

SPEAKER_09 8:36

Give us a give us a background of how you guys know each other because you guys do know each other. You just did a show together.

SPEAKER_05 8:41

Yeah, absolutely. We I don't think we had met at all before the show.

SPEAKER_12 8:44

Um I heard your name a lot. It kept showing up.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

Yeah, and you too, because you have done right. I mean, it's a small community theater world. So like we knew lots of similar people. I think we like bonded a lot during the show. We were like, me and Aliza and one of our other castmates had a lot of offstage time together. The ensemble for this show like sat on stage a lot. So we were backstage a lot and we entertained each other immensely and uh became friends through the show.

SPEAKER_09 9:10

Well, I mean, you and I have met before. Yes. And I needed to ask you. We read for Baker and Baker's wife for Into the Woods.

SPEAKER_05 9:17

Do you remember? I do remember. Yeah, you were amazing. You were really fantastic.

SPEAKER_09 9:21

I had fun with you. Yeah. And I wanted to know if you felt like we had any chemistry.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

Oh, definitely. I, you know, I had already been cast in the role. That was like the second role. Okay, brag about it.

SPEAKER_09 9:30

I didn't actually end up seeing that pro that production. So I can't say for sure whether you had more chemistry with Lindsay, but I I somehow doubt it. I think you and I would really brought something special like that.

SPEAKER_05 9:42

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_09 9:44

Sorry, Lisa, could you uh give us a minute? This again. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 9:48

Hopefully my husband's not listening.

SPEAKER_09 9:50

Oh, darn it.

SPEAKER_12 9:51

You know, everyone's married. So, in that regard, um, I auditioned for Ren. Why didn't you cast me? And before you before you answer, I already know it's because I was too sexy and I would have asked not to shown everyone. I would have outshown everyone.

SPEAKER_05 10:10

Coming right out with the hard questions, we had a like insane amount of talent come out. I also think just like as a director in general, I've not directed that many shows, but what I've learned as an actor who also directs is the casting process is like so, so incredibly difficult. And nine times out of ten, it's not about the most talented person in the room. It just isn't. Like there's so many other factors that go into it when you're trying to compose a cast and find people that work together. And I'm very passionate about like diversity and having people representative of all shapes and sizes and races and genders. And so it really is interesting. And as an actor, I will never again complain about like not getting cast in something because it's just not about you. I mean, obviously it's about you, but it's not really about you individually, it's about this giant collective puzzle.

SPEAKER_12 11:01

So I guess starting on some more rent-specific questions, how would you measure it here in a life?

SPEAKER_05 11:08

In coffee, in wine, in musicals.

SPEAKER_09 11:11

Yeah. If you had to, if you had to give a like if you had to quantify the number of cups of coffee and glasses of wine, you know, like 525,600 glasses of wine seems excessive. So I just want to make sure that you're healthy. How would you measure your year? Quantify it.

SPEAKER_05 11:28

Well, I I have about one cup of coffee a day, so that's pretty easy. The wine is harder. I drink too much of it, I'll tell you that. Um I mean what kinds? Not 365,000, whatever. Um, all kinds. Oh, I don't discriminate. Bubbly is my very favorite thing to drink, but I drink all kinds of good wine and bad wine.

SPEAKER_09 11:47

Any wine, whatever gets the job done.

SPEAKER_05 11:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_12 11:50

So if you measure in shows, how many shows do you usually do in a year?

SPEAKER_05 11:54

Um, I'd say I'm like averaging like one and a half, but COVID really messed that up. I had done theater growing up and then took a 20-year hiatus. And coming out of COVID, I was just like desperate for doing things and connecting with people. And I I it was one of those things where like I stopped doing this, but I don't really know why. Like there was never like a I don't want to do this anymore. It just life sort of happened. Right. And so NCT was the was like basically the first group doing something after COVID with Joseph and the amazing technicolor Dreamcoat. And I was like, yep, I'll go out for anything, I'll do any role. I just wanted to like do it again. I wanted to connect with people after that were during the the later stages of of COVID. And then that sort of like snowball that got super involved with NCT. I've done like seven shows since then at NCT shows at a couple other theaters.

SPEAKER_12 12:41

So so what did you do in Joseph?

SPEAKER_05 12:44

I was um Simeon, the French brother who sings the sort of like in Canaan days.

SPEAKER_12 12:50

And and we've all got one, a French brother. So back to Rent. Quick synopsis, what's the show about?

SPEAKER_05 12:55

Oh my gosh. I'm like one of those nerds who wants to know everything about a thing that I'm doing. So like I'll do the deep research. So I have some books about Rent, and I literally today wrote down when Jonathan Larson was asked to like describe the show, Jonathan Larson, the composer, in a sentence, he said, Rent's about a community celebrating life in the face of death and AIDS at the turn of the century. And I love that because it can be a sad show, but it's really not. It's really about celebrating life during hard times. It's about like community coming together. So, like on the surface plot-wise, it's basically Puccini's Labo M. It is a group of people living in the East Village of New York, grappling with AIDS, grappling with relationships, trying to have a sense of community, grappling with poverty and gentrification and the turn of the century sort of turmoil. But really, it's about love and celebrating and coming together to make art and be a community.

SPEAKER_09 13:54

Oh, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_12 13:55

Yeah, that's really, really well. Wonderful synopsis. Yeah, which I guess could lead into the next question, which is what is kind of the vibe of the show? What do you want people to feel when they're there? You know, what do you want them to walk away with?

SPEAKER_05 14:08

It really is a show where I think you're gonna have a lot of feelings and leave with a lot of things. It's funny. There's a lot of humor in the show, there's a lot of just really like cathartic, beautiful music. Seasons of love, the song that most folks know from the show. It would be hard to listen to that song and not feel some sort of emotion. I love this show because it's a community theater doing a show about community, which we sort of just did with A Man of No Importance, but I love that idea. And so I definitely want people to leave with a sense of hope, of community, especially in like the current times and environment. Not an escape exactly, because it's certainly thematically dark and sad, but like I want people to leave feeling hope and feeling like art brings us together, even when things are shitty.

SPEAKER_09 14:51

Like you said, this is a community theater doing a show about community. So, why does this work well as a community theater show? What makes it a good show to do for amateurs like us?

SPEAKER_05 15:01

Well, a lot of reasons, but it also is a very hard show to do, I'll say. I'm learning. Um, what's kind of funny, and because of this like NCT fire situation where we had to move theaters.

SPEAKER_09 15:10

Yeah, in case anyone didn't know, Narbirth Community Theater, their original venue was the Overbrook Presbyterian Church. Which burned, it didn't burn down, it had an electrical fire.

SPEAKER_05 15:19

Pretty significant fire.

SPEAKER_09 15:20

Yeah, and it and it made doing performances in that space impossible. And so now Narbirth Community Theater is located at the Philadelphia Circus Campus in Chestnut Hill. It's a temporary venue. So with the Narburgh Fire.

SPEAKER_05 15:31

Yeah, we postponed some things. I was originally supposed to direct Guys and Dolls in this slouch, very different show from Rent. In moving spaces, we also had an opportunity to do some shows that we would not necessarily have been able to do at the old space. So we took that opportunity to like do some shows that we knew we would not be able to do at the other space. So that's one of the ways that rent came about. But we also were trying to scale back and think about like in this new sort of temporary space, which has some limitations. It's a great space, it's really unique, a lot of cool things about it, but there are some limitations. So we decided to pick smaller shows for this season. And in my head, Rent was a smaller show than Guys and Dolls. And it is in some ways, in terms of like ensemble and choreography and a giant orchestra, but it's pretty complicated. The reasons it's important and great to do as a community theater are there, it's not a huge cast, but there are a lot of opportunities for folks in the cast. It's a fairly small ensemble, but the ensemble plays multiple roles each. There's a lot happening on stage for folks to do. There are a lot of, you know, again, the themes about community and just really like being together as a group. There are themes around the importance of art in this show and the humanity of art, and sort of not letting art become digital or AI focused, which like that's a topic for another time. Right, yes. But the heart, the emotion, the soul of art, I think is really important in this show and is obviously really important to uh community theater. Also, for me, it's a show that requires a diverse cast again, and like that's important to me in community theater. Like as artists, we care about representation, we care about having all kinds of voices in the room. And so a show that requires that for me is really that's a great thing to do as part of a community theater.

SPEAKER_12 17:22

At the time that we're recording this, you have not actually started rehearsals, right?

SPEAKER_05 17:26

No, we're about a month away from from rehearsals, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 17:29

With that in mind, is there a particular scene that you're really looking forward to directing?

SPEAKER_05 17:34

Well, a couple that I can think of immediately are Maureen's big solo over the moon, which is a performance art piece. Maureen, the character, is a performance artist in New York in the early, late 80s, early 90s. And she is in some ways the comic relief of the show. And it's this like sort of over-the-top piece of performance art, like meant to be like ridiculously artsy, but also hilarious in a way that people were kind of doing performance art at the time, and it's meant to be a protest. You've probably seen it done very hilariously. If you read the script, it obviously reads as comedy. But what's interesting to me about it is it has to be both a satire of performance art, but it also has to be genuine art because Maureen, the character, believes in this as a form of protest, as a form of art. Like it's not a joke to her. So audiences can't really leave just laughing at the number. You have to laugh at it because it's ridiculous, but also like feel it and like at least feel that Maureen really believes in it and feels in it. But it's so over the top that I think it's gonna be really fun. The woman playing Maureen in our production is gonna absolutely crush it. Like she's hilarious, and her voice is like bring the house down. So can't I can't wait to see what she does, and I can't wait to direct her. The other big one is La Vivo M, the end of act one. It's a raucous party in a restaurant at a long table, generally staged with folks singing and dancing and the whole cast getting in on shenanigans, basically, people mooning each other and food possibly flying. Um, it's like controlled chaos in a way that I think will be really cool and exciting to get to direct.

SPEAKER_09 19:13

Are you having full ass out?

SPEAKER_05 19:15

Oh, yeah. We actually had someone in the cast reach out to me in the ensemble, reach out to me right after she was cast and said, Hey, Andrew, just FYI. If whoever's supposed to show their ass in Love You OM doesn't want to, I would love to.

SPEAKER_12 19:28

I love that energy.

SPEAKER_05 19:29

And she said, as a bonus, I have a tattoo on my app.

SPEAKER_12 19:32

Oh my god, what of? I did not ask, but I was like, I'm so excited to know to have you do this. Can't wait to see. In an ideal world, what percentage of the cast has their ass out in this show?

SPEAKER_05 19:41

Oh, 100. In the ideal world. I'm so excited to see that. We don't live in that world, so it'll probably just be the world.

SPEAKER_09 19:46

That'll be two shows, not in a row, but two shows at NCT with ass out this season.

SPEAKER_05 19:51

Yes, I told you we picked some shows this season that uh we could not do at the church.

SPEAKER_12 19:56

What is a show that you think would be improved by adding more ass? The best question.

SPEAKER_05 20:00

What's the most ridiculous answer I could give here? Oh God. Um the secret garden.

SPEAKER_12 20:05

I think the sound of music. Oh yeah. What n that? Like Nazis or Nazi Nazis-esque?

SPEAKER_05 20:13

No show with children.

SPEAKER_09 20:15

I didn't mind editing that out unproblematic. Please don't cancel me. I was thinking something like, oh, what is what is Pirates of Penzance? Who's who Gilbert and Sullivan. Any Gilbert and Sullivan would be improved with ass out.

SPEAKER_05 20:29

Yeah, I just saw that like ridiculous production on Broadway last year with Jinx Monsoon and David Hyde Pierce. And it was incredible. And it was, I don't think it had ass out, but it very much could have in the the way they did it.

SPEAKER_09 20:39

I'm just so pro ass out. So pro ass out. All right. All right, we're gonna shift back to more about you.

SPEAKER_05 20:46

The music was always first to me. I grew up singing like as a kid in choirs and just always loved music and singing. And then in high school, a fun opportunity to do that was theater. So I got involved in drama and plays and musical theater and really loved that always. Like it was like a big part of my identity in in high school, in particular, a little bit post-high school. But I life just happened and I got out of it and I don't even really know how and or why. But coming out of COVID, I think the desire to do something, to connect with people, to find a community, and just I never stopped enjoying theater. Like I attend a ton, way too much theater. I spend way too much money attending theater. So I've always loved it. It was never a it was never a like I left it because I didn't love it or enjoy it. And so getting back in was immediately was like, oh, right, this is who I am, this is what I do. Like was all in immediately, but it was because of the people, 100% because of the people. In fact, auditioning for a show after 20 years in a a city where I didn't know anyone in the theater world was terrifying. And I was very much approached it as like, cool, I want to do this show. I probably won't make friends because they'll all know each other. They won't know me. I live in, you know, the city and like I'm going commuting to a suburban theater. Like I was like, I probably won't make friends. I was like, I probably won't make friends, but it'll still be good. Like it'll be great to do a show. And like immediately made literal family best friends. Like I got married four months after the show. And I we had like 10 had you met the person in the show.

SPEAKER_12 22:27

Wow. Fast.

SPEAKER_05 22:29

No, but we invited like 10 of my theater friends to our wedding, like four months later. And like truly, it's the people. That's why I say in it. I love doing the shows. I and what show was that? That was Joseph, the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at NCT. It was just like the most amazing, friendliest people, people who just like wanted to spend time on stage and off stage together, like welcomed with open arms. And that's been the case at every theater that I've done shows with outside of NCT now, too. And that's what keeps me there. Like I love doing the work, although it can be stressful, it can be hard, it can be tiring, but it's the people.

SPEAKER_09 23:01

You mentioned that when you first auditioned or wanted to audition for Joseph, that you were really scared, that you were terrified. Yeah. And I thought maybe it would be a good thing. Like, what would you suggest to somebody who maybe is in a new city or has thought for a couple of years, I'd really like to get into this, but I'm too scared. Like, what would you say to that person?

SPEAKER_05 23:16

Yeah, I mean, I don't know that it's particularly helpful, but like just go for it as the advice I think that most people would give. I will say in go for it in community theater because the other people in community theater are doing it for the people, right? Like all three of us just said, yes, we do it for the people 100%.

SPEAKER_12 23:30

I will say during rehearsals are all also, especially closer to showtime. There are a lot of snacks backstage.

SPEAKER_05 23:37

Do it for the sense.

SPEAKER_12 23:38

Um do it for the thing.

SPEAKER_05 23:41

No, definitely not.

SPEAKER_12 23:42

Um, but anyway, the people, yes.

SPEAKER_05 23:43

Yeah. So like I would say I can't tell anyone, like, go and and don't be scared and don't have stage fright. Like I have every single audition, I'm like, I black out during an audition. Oh my god, too real. I get home and my husband's like, how did it go? And I was like, I have absolutely no idea. I couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_12 23:57

I wasn't there.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

Yep, I basically wasn't. And on stage, you know, I don't get as much stage fright performing as I do in an audition, but I still get those nerves. And so I can't tell you, like, show up and you won't be nervous. Like, you will, but that's part of it. It's part of the challenge. It's what makes you good generally on stage too. Like, energy is energy, whether it's scary energy or like positive energy for the stage, but do it. Yeah. Get out and do it.

SPEAKER_09 24:20

Do it scared.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Do something. The other thing I want to say related to that, and like this relates to my like directing philosophy, and I want other directors to hear this if they're listening. Like, stop making auditions scary on purpose. Do people do that? I don't know.

SPEAKER_09 24:33

Maybe I feel like they try really hard not to make a screen. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_05 24:36

I've just been to so many auditions that I think were scary, you know? And I think like, don't do that, you know.

SPEAKER_09 24:42

What do you think makes an audition scary?

SPEAKER_05 24:44

I think often directors want to put up a wall, especially in community theater, because we know each other. They they want to be fair. And so they put up a wall of, I'm just gonna go in kind of straight faced, I'm not gonna like give anything away, I'm not gonna make people feel like they got a role if they didn't. And so I see a lot of folks in the room totally stone faced. It's supposed to be fun for everybody, like smile, laugh. I also think there's all this pressure to like, you can't make a mistake in an audition. I do not care. I will stop people and be like, let's do that again. Let's try again.

SPEAKER_12 25:18

And Andrew very kindly did that for my audition. And I'll say it now. I know why it's because I fucked up twice in the same way. And the second time I fucked up enough on a tape. But you know what?

SPEAKER_09 25:30

I I fucked up in my Spring Awakening audition, so I I don't think that's it. But I didn't black out hard enough. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_05 25:38

How do you know you were blacked out?

SPEAKER_09 25:40

You were not there like, oh man. Alisa, you weren't there. You can't speak to why.

SPEAKER_05 25:45

I don't care if somebody forgets the words, I don't care if they hold music, I don't care if they need to do it a second time. Like in the end, like being able to perform on the spot without rehearsal is not what we do. Right. So, like having to do that in an audition is not the best way to see someone at their best. So, particularly at callbacks, I'm like, we're gonna try things multiple ways. I'm gonna give you notes, I'm gonna see what you do with it. You can hold the music, you can ask for a redo. Like, this is not rocket science. Like, it's supposed to be fun. And and I don't think I'll see the best in people at auditions if I don't make it fun and light and easy and not stressful. Obviously, it's always gonna be stressful, but I would just encourage people anything you can do to just make it like part of the fun as a director or music director, anybody in the room, do auditions. Auditions are stressful, but other than that, that's like nothing but good experiences. And what I love about community theater out different organizations is there's like something unique and cool about each of them. Like they all seem to have their own like personality and they all have their own unique spaces, which can be frustrating, but also so cool, you know, to get to perform in like barns and like beautiful, gorgeous theaters and a circus school now and the churches, and like it's just really cool. So you could just see people come together and make it work, with the exception of maybe MCT. Nobody has like a just a gorgeous, perfect professional theater space in community theater. If they did, they'd be professional.

SPEAKER_09 27:06

MCT does have a pretty great venue at Shenandell, a retirement community. That theater is state of the art. Yeah, it's crazy. My God.

SPEAKER_12 27:14

So of those theaters that you've seen shows at, but haven't necessarily done anything. What's your community theater crush? What's the theater that you would really like to do a show at?

SPEAKER_05 27:22

Oh, yeah, I'd really like to do a show at Players Club of Swarthmore. They just do really great shows. Yeah, it's great there. I've never seen a show at Salt, but I've heard they have like very good productions. It's incredible production value. The production value is out of this world. Yeah, it's a little, it's a bit of a hike for me, but those are the two that come to mind. I mean, MCT was one, but I got to do a show there recently. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 27:42

So do you think doing community theater has helped you in your daily and personal life? Like, how do you think the things that you've learned and experienced doing community theater have helped you or influenced your life outside of community theater?

SPEAKER_05 27:55

I honestly have noticed like when I'm doing a show, I'm just like a happier person. Like it gives me more of a purpose when I come home from work. Like I love my job. Which is I work in uh in tech at a tech startup. I'm director of customer success there. Um, and I love it and I love my colleagues. But when I come home, it's nice to have something that's not like looking at a screen, which I enjoy a lot too much. But it's nice to feel like I have a purpose in my like personal life in addition to like a work goal purpose. Yeah, so when I'm doing a show, I really just I feel like I've got my shit together more, honestly, because you have to, right? Like I feel like I'm more on top of things, I feel like I have more structure, which really makes me a happier person. I'm just less like vegged out.

SPEAKER_12 28:37

Yeah, like my house is never cleaner than after a really rehearsal heavy week.

SPEAKER_05 28:45

I gotta get my shit together. Yeah, and you're not there to make a mess. You're like gone all the time.

SPEAKER_09 28:49

Yeah, and I like meal prep more because I'm like, well, I won't have any time to do anything else, and I need to eat.

SPEAKER_05 28:53

So yeah, right. For sure. Obviously, I I've learned a lot of things, particularly directing. I think I've learned a lot of things that I like to take into my life. And doing something that's like bigger than you and and is part of like a common goal makes you kinder and makes you more empathetic. Of and theater in general, I think, makes you more empathetic because you literally have to put yourself in someone else's shoes in order to play a role. So I think I'm a nicer, better person to be around because of theater.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Well, huh?

SPEAKER_05 29:25

I didn't say it was nice or good to be around. I said it was nicer and better.

SPEAKER_09 29:30

It's good to be self-aware. Okay. I think you're lovely to be around. I agree. This is so much fun.

SPEAKER_12 29:38

So I I know this is difficult because we're recording this kind of early in the process. This is before any of our episodes have come out. But what we would really like to close things out is could you give our podcast a compliment in the style of giving a compliment to a person whose show was really like not that really bad. What would you say?

SPEAKER_05 30:00

Oh my gosh. I mean, that is rough. So yeah, you two clearly are having a lot of fun. I can really tell you're having fun doing this.

SPEAKER_09 30:08

That's so kind of genuine. So we are having fun.

SPEAKER_05 30:12

We're having the best fun. But wait, before we end, I have a couple of like rent anecdotes that I want to tell, which you can take or leave.

SPEAKER_07 30:19

I would love to take or leave.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

You say take them or leave them. Well, that's a song. Um, one of my big favorites is that there's a support group for people with AIDS, HIV in the 90s, living with AIDS. So it's a support group for whoever wants to show up and share their stories and have community and deal with life and death literally together. So in the support group, there are at the beginning, there are like four characters, and they start the song by saying their name. They just say Paul, Gordon, Allie, Sue. In the original Broadway production, those names were not set or fixed. The actors were encouraged to say the names of people that they knew that had died or that had had AIDS, HIV. And like, that's so crazy powerful. Like it's really hard to do as an actor to have to switch up every night, like a line, but also this idea that they were making something that was really urgent. What I think will be the hardest thing about directing this show with mostly young people, because that's who the cast requires, is helping them understand that this was really, really, really scary, and people were like losing all of their friends, whole generations of gay men in particular, but also others just being lost to AIDS. AIDS is still around, but it's different than it was. It's more manageable chronic disease at the time it was Adessence. And so I think helping young people who didn't live through it, and I'm not quite old enough to fully live through it, but it was present enough when I was growing up that I like, I really want to make sure that young people understand that and this show in that context of why it's so important to like no data but today, forget regret, to like live your life, even when you've got a literal death sentence at the time.

SPEAKER_09 31:57

I love that you're also including that in your approach to this show. So I'm really excited to see it. Thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 32:05

Thank you, Andrew, for talking with us about rent. Fun fact, he was actually the first interview that we ever recorded for this podcast. That interview is quite old. About three months. Yes. Almost it was in January, right? Yeah. So thanks, Andrew, for being our inaugural interview, if not the subject of our inaugural episode. Really set the tone and made us feel great about ourselves as interviewers. And really, you were the one doing all the work, Andrew. So thank you so much. Gosh bless you. Much, much later, I went to one of the rent rehearsals and spoke with some of the cast and crew, and here are those interviews.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

I'm Sean Malloy. I am the music director for Rent with NCT.

SPEAKER_12 32:46

And what are you most excited about with this show?

SPEAKER_00 32:49

I mean, it's it's such an obvious answer, but I'm excited for the music.

SPEAKER_12 32:52

We've got the music director is excited for the music. I know.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

It's a terrible shame that I have no interest in acting or dancing because I don't understand them in any way. But this is a show that is music from start to finish and great music from start to finish. And we just got this killer cast that is making this music so wonderful. It's been an absolute delight. And so I just can't wait to see it on stage. Can't wait to hear it with the band. That's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_12 33:21

Is there a particular song that you are looking forward to or that you love in the show?

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Absolutely. A Dark Horse with Christmas Bells.

SPEAKER_12 33:29

Fascinating answer.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Underrated song. Spectacular. It's wonderful.

SPEAKER_12 33:33

It's not in the movie, is it?

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Surely not. I haven't seen the movie in a while, but they if you're gonna cut something, that's the first thing you're gonna cut. Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 33:41

I do go for the filler songs usually. Is it rude to call it a filler song?

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Yeah, yes, yes, it is.

SPEAKER_12 33:47

Okay, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Uh how dare you. There's just so much happening in it. And like any good, busy song, everything in it is deliberate. And it it has a lot of replayability. You can listen to that track over and over again, and every time you listen to it, there's uh a lyric you didn't hear before, or a harmony you didn't notice, or like a piece you just didn't appreciate. You know exactly what you're supposed to appreciate in one song glory. And you can return to it for like the beauty of the performance and the nuance of the emotion, but there's just so much happening in Christmas Bells.

SPEAKER_12 34:22

So, what should you be appreciating? Best thing to appreciate in Christmas Bells.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

In Christmas Bells, uh you the type of uh podcaster to just like clip incredibly incriminating sentences? Great, wonderful. This is some wonderful potter. Uh, the best thing about Christmas bells is the cops.

SPEAKER_12 34:41

Oh my god.

unknown 34:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

You heard it here first. You heard it here first.

SPEAKER_12 34:47

Last name.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

I love the cops. They call me Sergeant Malloy. Sorry, Sergeant Last Name. There's like two cop characters that just have uh such great sardonic lyrics that I think it's thrown away. Like their opening line is I'm dreaming of a white right Christmas. And that just skips past a lot of people. And then underneath it, when the chaos begins, you have things like you have the right to remain silent night. It's just a lot of nice little pot shots, I guess.

SPEAKER_12 35:18

So how do you measure a year in the life?

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Yeah. I think a lot of people measure a year in the life by like what musical season is up, and like, oh, it's time for spring musical. The sincere answer to this is I measure a year in the life by my rose garden.

SPEAKER_12 35:36

Oh, that's cute.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

I spend the fall getting it ready, I spend the winter thinking of next year's roses, I spend the spring pruning. The tempo of the year is kind of based around the garden.

SPEAKER_12 35:46

Okay. Good answer. It's like that's the natural order of things. Yes, I am also a hermit with no friends.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Like most people would be like birthdays and things like that, but no.

SPEAKER_12 35:55

No, that's that's lovely. And kind of in keeping with some of the themes in rent and like I'm thinking like Lobby Bohem. What is your craziest post-show cast outing story?

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Do I do I look like an exciting man to you?

SPEAKER_12 36:10

He is wearing a sweater right now, audience. What a cable knit? Is that what that's called?

SPEAKER_00 36:15

This is a cable knit sweater.

SPEAKER_12 36:17

I know. Clothes and knits.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

I can tell you this. Uh I haven't done anything after a show besides go immediately to sleep since I was a teenager. But back when I was a teenager at uh Cardinal O'Hara High School, it was always going out to the dairy barn in Delco for some kind of milkshake.

SPEAKER_12 36:37

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_12 36:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Because it was also the 1950s when I went to high school, to be clear.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

My name is Greg Hooker. I'll be playing Angel and Rent.

SPEAKER_12 36:47

And I remember you mentioning a while ago that you've been like really researching the shit out of Angel as a character and stuff. So do you want to talk a little bit about how you've been preparing for the character?

SPEAKER_01 36:57

I first of all shocked that I got Angel. So glad to do it.

SPEAKER_12 37:01

Oh, no offense. I'm gonna I think you're amazing.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Wow, that's okay.

SPEAKER_12 37:05

No offense.

unknown 37:06

No offense.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

I think you're great. Yeah, I've just been researching like a lot about Angel is a very thorough person. So like he started off giving us all this information about his vision, what he wants for the show, other things, other factors around the show. But I think I was just looking up like more about the AIDS crisis and stuff like that, and drag like in the 90s, and also figuring out like where Angel falls in today's terms. Would she still be like a gay man that does drag, or is it like somewhere else on the spectrum? So I've just been trying to find a lot of influences like that.

SPEAKER_12 37:41

And how do you measure a year in life?

SPEAKER_01 37:44

What a question. I don't know. I think I measure a year in life like as my birthday.

SPEAKER_12 37:50

Which just happened. Which just happened. Mr. 28. Don't say that, don't say it. I'm older than you. I'm ancient. I'm 29, if you can believe it.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

No? Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_12 38:01

I don't look that old. You know, you look 21. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

29? I don't believe it. I think, yeah, the way I see the year is not like a calendar year. I definitely think my birthday, I mean it's obviously my birthday is that's the start of the year, yeah. That's the start of the year.

SPEAKER_12 38:17

And just like I mean, it's around like lunary new year.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Right. It literally was the day before.

SPEAKER_12 38:22

Yeah, so you are correct.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Who's to say the world doesn't revolve around me?

SPEAKER_12 38:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Okay. Yeah. I think like the ebbs and flows of what happens in specifically the year of my life from birthday to birthday is how I measure a year of life.

SPEAKER_12 38:35

What is your wildest post-show cast outing story? Yeah. I know we heard Spring Awakening and the cast went nuts.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

I feel like this is a targeted question.

SPEAKER_12 38:45

No, I've been asking everyone.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

Let's just say we went out after it was the final weekend of Spring Awakening. We went out Friday, which was the the day before our final show on Saturday. Let's just say we we went out, a couple of us went out. I and a and a castmate did not end up getting to bed until like 1 p.m. the next day. Jesus. Yeah, we were just going and going and going and going.

SPEAKER_12 39:12

Where did you go?

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Philly. Philly. We went we went out to tavern and we went to a friend's house. And then from that friend's house, we went back to the castmate's house. And then it ended up being 1. And I said, Oh, I have to go home.

SPEAKER_12 39:26

Again, PM. PMC. P.M.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

mind you.

SPEAKER_12 39:29

1 a.m. I get home and I'm like, I was out way too late.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Anything past midnight, I my battery is decreasing so fast.

SPEAKER_12 39:37

Yeah, you made it till 1 p.m. Did you have a show the next day?

SPEAKER_01 39:40

We did.

SPEAKER_12 39:40

Oh Christ.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

That was actually the craziest, the craziest show of my life. I was not present, but it happened and people liked it. And that's all that mattered.

SPEAKER_10 39:49

I'm Laura Cilia, and I am in the ensemble of this amazing production. So so far, I have been assigned the roles of Mark's mother. So I get all those fun voicemails. The squeegee man. So during Christmas Bell's Honest Living, Honest Living. Right. I'm gonna hear that in my sleep. And then a couple other things. I've been singing this music probably since grade. You can edit that part out. I mean, it came out in the 90s, so you can only be so I was it was like 97, so I was like seventh grade. Um, and I never thought that I would be able to actually participate in something like this on stage. I think that the stage here at the Circus Campus is gonna be perfect for this show. Also, working with the production team, they are bosses together and separately. Who is the most bossy? Like not bossy in the positive connotation of the boss. The most bossy of the boss asked thus far has been our music director, but don't tell him I said that, and please, this is off the roll editing out. Elisa, okay, yeah, edit it out totally 112% editing. Yeah, he's great. I mean, we are working hard, uh, and it feels like we're hardly working. Um, so we're having fun all while telling this really important story.

SPEAKER_12 41:07

So, how do you measure a year in the life?

SPEAKER_10 41:09

Well, 525,600 minutes, of course, Elisa. Oh, of course. And and are you do you take those off like on a wall? How do you keep track? I actually have buttons and a jar. Okay. Yeah. No, I I feel like love really truly is the answer. So I I think about the friendships that I have been blessed to have that I've met like wandering around in life, but also in community theater. And if we think of production as like a three-month time period, that's one quarter of a year.

SPEAKER_08 41:39

One quarter.

SPEAKER_10 41:39

I don't math. One fiscal quarter. There's one fiscal quarter. I don't math, so I don't know how many minutes that actually would be. No one knows. They haven't invented a math advanced enough to calculate. They haven't. Oh, thank goodness. So I'm not behind. Great, super. I feel a lot better about that. Anyways, it truly is the relationships and the love and the the fact that we all come together for this common goal of performance and tell us telling a story and moving an audience. And it's three months of my year, but it will be memories for me that probably last a lifetime.

SPEAKER_03 42:09

My name is Chris Bartholomew. I'm playing Roger because it's a big departure from other roles that I've played. It's very different in every single way than I am as a person. Roger's very gruff and he's jaded by the world, and he's guarded and protected, and he's been through a lot of trauma. I have not.

SPEAKER_08 42:27

And I'm so sorry to hear that.

SPEAKER_03 42:29

Yeah, I know. It's so terrible because I really have to stretch and bring this character to life to show the trauma that he's been through and the and the struggles that he's going through and how guarded he is without coming off as you know, too angry, unlikable, that kind of thing. So you have to really kind of root for him. Um and I think it's gonna take a lot of digging for me to be able to do that. But it's gonna be really fun.

SPEAKER_12 42:51

What kind of roles have you historically played?

SPEAKER_03 42:53

Usually like the sidekick characters. I played Shrek in at the Barn Playhouse, just as fast as well.

SPEAKER_12 42:58

Who has his own trauma? He's got a whole song about it.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

Yeah, he's got a lot of trauma.

SPEAKER_12 43:03

Shrek and Roger are basically the same.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

They're basically like the same person, yeah. Just one's green and one's a rocker, basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 43:09

And like New York is in some ways a swamp. And I mean, they're all getting evicted. Oh my god, you see the parallels.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

Okay, so it's the same musical as what you're saying. I should have known. I've had my go of very different characters, but this is by far the most different one that I've played.

SPEAKER_12 43:27

And are you doing anything in particular to either get yourself in the headspace or get used to like, I don't know, the rock style of singing?

SPEAKER_03 43:34

Yeah, I think it's trying to figure out what kind of rock star this Roger is. I don't have the as hard of an edge as some other people who've played it before, so I think I have to find maybe he was more of in like a glam rock band, or like he had a kind of a different vibe to him than other rockers may have. So I think it's that headspace. And also just doing a lot of research. A lot of chat GPT. What's happening? Who is this person? You know, explaining my chat GPT.

SPEAKER_12 44:00

Character work for you.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Oh yeah. Well, not entirely. Not entirely. But it is a good jumping off point because it questions me back. So I'm starting to think about how do I want this character to come out? How do I want this to be based on my experience? And my coming out journey, I think, is a big part of discovering how Roger's coming out journey is when he's telling people that he has AIDS. And I think that that is very parallel. Andrew and I had a long conversation about that earlier this week. And it's interesting because it's how does your perspective change? How do you think people's perspective of you is going to change when this news comes out? It's going to shape a completely different person than who they thought they knew. And are people going to walk away? Are people going to stick by you? And I think that's a lot of where the chosen family comes in. And that's a really big part of my life. And, you know, my family is great, supportive, and wonderful, and I love them. But I do have a lot of chosen family and friends and things like that. A lot of which I made through theater when I did in college and doing community theater outside of it.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

My name is Anton Martinez-Jones, and I'm playing Collins. I don't know many theater people who are not excited about Reddit. For a lot of people, it was probably one of the first rock operas that they heard. It was really modern, probably one of the first really modern feeling musicals to come out, and I think it made musical theater really accessible for people. So I think it has a space in a lot of theater people's hearts.

SPEAKER_11 45:32

I'm Jensen Davis and I am in the ensemble. I have the Seasons of Love solo, and I'm a the one that's like Yeah, that obnoxious one for sure. And then I'm also a homeless person specifically. I guess it's very early days. Do you need to have a fun outfit for that or anything? No, not yet, but I anticipate looking as scrungly as possible.

SPEAKER_12 45:56

How does one scrungle oneself and then unscungle in time for other characters?

SPEAKER_11 46:03

Right, right. Probably a fair amount of hat work, I'm sure, will be part of it.

SPEAKER_12 46:08

Do you have a lot of uh deep experience doing hat work?

SPEAKER_11 46:11

I don't.

SPEAKER_12 46:12

Okay, so this is imagining an educational experience. Exactly. Yes. It's so exciting.

SPEAKER_11 46:16

Yes, for sure. Learning new skills every single time. You pick something up from every single show. For sure. I wish you the scrgliest of time for that. Thank you. Thanks. I don't think it's gonna be too hard. I think I'm a pretty scrungly person, pretty naturally.

SPEAKER_12 46:28

So you strike me as the exact amount of scrungly to be like cool.

SPEAKER_11 46:32

Right. It's like chic scrum. Scrugly chic, you know, where it's like if I don't shower for a couple days, it's cool. It's it's counterculture, you know.

SPEAKER_12 46:40

Like that's very rent.

SPEAKER_11 46:42

Right, right. Fighting big water, really. So what are you most excited for with this show? I have known of Rent since I was basically a child. It's a show that really formed a lot of my very formative years and like middle school and stuff, so it feels very fulfilling to be able to actually like work on something that was quite influential. I also love a smaller cast because I think we only have about 15, 16 people or so in this cast, and especially as ensemble members are gonna be wearing a lot of hats, um, doing a lot of things. One, it gives us a lot of stuff to do, you know, not a lot of downtime, which is like really great. If I'm gonna be doing a show, I want to be put to work. Also, I think that it makes for a much more intimate experience because with a smaller cast, you just have more opportunities to get to know everyone. Versus larger casts, we tend to kind of gravitate towards certain people. It can just be overwhelming to have so many. So I just like I love the intimacy of smaller projects. I think, especially for rent, where the message is all about community, fostering that and really nurturing that, I think, is going to be really special about this production for sure. Probably about most productions for rent, but I know this one. So, who do you think is gonna be your best friend by the end of it? Oh gosh. Name names. Um, well, I'm already good friends with a lot of people in the cast.

SPEAKER_12 48:05

This is a com-out answer. I want you to tell me who's sorry. But rank your cast members right now, top to bottom. You're gonna like best and least.

SPEAKER_11 48:15

Um my gosh. It's it's hard because we've only done a couple music records. Exactly.

SPEAKER_12 48:20

That's why this is gonna be a terrible thing to listen to. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_11 48:24

And just like putting me on the spot, and someone's gonna be like, hey, what the heck was that about? You thought we weren't gonna have good vibes? Um, anyway, moving on to the next question.

unknown 48:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 48:35

How do you measure a year in a life? Oh gosh, you measure your life in love, baby. Um that's beautiful. Did you come up with that? I sure did. Yes, it is. Um, I'm going on the record, that is a hundred percent my own copywritten work. I mean, like it is, I think it is about measuring your life in like in love, in in the moments that really nurture you in relationships and communities. Me, myself, and I, and a lot of people that I know certainly struggle, I think, with a lot of anxiety and struggle with mental health issues for sure. And I think we can kind of get into our own head or get trapped in the internet doom scrolling and whatever. And I think that doing shows, actually being in community with people doing something rather than just like sitting and scrolling and you know, spiraling or whatever, that's really where life lives.

SPEAKER_07 49:28

I'm Dana B and I am part of the ensemble. I am most excited to be in my favorite musical of all time, Rent's my number one. I grew up around role models who were artists in their own right, granted, in Northern California. And the the musical has always inspired me as someone who is creatively inclined and has a big chosen family.

SPEAKER_12 49:56

And I think of rent as I know when I was younger, I was a little obsessed with it. I think a lot of people share that. It's a pretty formative show for a lot of people. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_07 50:07

Yeah, I'm a self-confessed rent head because it really jumpstarted my love for rock musicals.

SPEAKER_12 50:13

So how do you measure a year in a life?

SPEAKER_07 50:15

I guess I can measure a year in bus trips.

SPEAKER_12 50:18

Okay, that's a good answer. How many bus trips would you say you make in a year? Ballpark.

SPEAKER_07 50:25

Probably between 50 to 100.

SPEAKER_12 50:27

Do you have any particularly crazy post-show cast outing stories?

SPEAKER_07 50:31

When I was in high school, I was involved with all the drama productions. And after the Friday night performance of every show that we did, we would go to Nifty 50s in Northeast Philly with our makeup still on. Of course. And the staff just never caught on. We would always ask for paper hats to color on with crayons, and someone would get the infamous birthday prank where the server would be notified that it was someone's birthday. Maybe it wasn't, but it never happened to me, thank goodness, or I would have thrown hands. And in particular, when I was a junior, when we after we did Footloose, at one point we started redoing the number dancing is not a crime. And at one point, the staff had to tell us to sit down and be quiet.

SPEAKER_12 51:16

That's the classic, especially for high school. It's like you're going to Denny's, you're singing a whole-ass song, you're so into it, and everyone is so pissed at you because there's a bunch of high schoolers singing their stupid songs at the Denny's.

SPEAKER_06 51:30

My name is Jordan Buzza, and my role in the show is many things. I am in the ensemble, but I'm also uh Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Gray, Gordon, among homeless people and many other sundry characters. Yeah, in high school, me and a bunch of my senior year like friends, we all after we did spam a lot, and then after one of the shows, we all went and saw a movie at midnight for no reason whatsoever, but like just a bunch of us swarming the theater, it was great.

SPEAKER_12 51:58

Nice. Everyone's talking about stuff they did in high school. It's like no one's cool after no one's being obnoxious with the I guess you're mean enough to know better.

SPEAKER_06 52:07

Hell, if people want to come with me to a waffle house and we perform Lovey Bohem just in midair.

SPEAKER_08 52:12

That's what I'm talking about. My name is Courtney Cheyenne Thoroughgood, and I am an ensemble member as well as a soloist. I am most excited to build community with this show. I love Rent so much, and it's such a big communal show, and I'm so excited to make new friends. This is my first show at NCT, so definitely excited to build community with this show. A lot of folks are big fans of Rent. Why do you think it's such a popular show? It's truly, and I hate this word, but like it's truly timeless. I mean, even if the situations are not necessarily exactly like the ones we're experiencing now, every decade of people has dealt with something like this. And it's also really powerful to talk about the fact that the queer community, the trans community, they've always existed, they've always been here, and they've always been doing art and living their lives and being wonderful and amazing. Um how do you measure a year in a life? Definitely in cups of coffee for me. Okay. Big cups of coffee. And what number is that approximately? Ooh, I'd say like maybe three thousand. Three thousand in a year? Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 53:17

I'm not good at math. That feels like a lot. Yeah. Good for you.

SPEAKER_08 53:22

Do you have any particularly fun or crazy stories of post-show cast outings? It wasn't a show that I was in, it was a show that my partner was in. They go to this big pizza place in Connecticut, and I was new to this whole group, and the whole pizza place clears out when the theater kids come back. Which I definitely dealt with in high school, but I think I had never experienced it as an adult before. Were you giving off big theater kit vibes?

SPEAKER_09 53:53

Thank you, Andrew, and the casting crew of Rent for taking the time to speak with us. You can see Rent at the Philadelphia Circus Campus May 1st through 16th. You can purchase tickets and find more information on their website, mynct.org, or you can follow them on Instagram at Narburth CT. Rehearsal Tracks is mixed and edited by us, Laura Donnelly and Elisa Furman. Lauren Grondel is our researcher and Dana Weinstein does our community outreach. If you'd like to get in contact with us, you can send us an email at rehearsaltrackspod at gmail.com, or you can follow us on Instagram at RehearsaltzPod. Thanks again for listening. Break a leg.