As audience members pour into the University of Denver’s theatre department’s “Rent” production at the Byron Theatre, they are transported from the intimate theater to the scaffolds of New York City. The set is dark and sultry, made up entirely of three stories worth of industrial scaffolding strewn with glowing Christmas lights, posters and signs plastered on the walls reading “hope.”
“Rent” cast members, many layered in patchy jackets and beanies, mill around the set before the production, puffing on fake cigarettes while traffic sounds whir around the theater. And then, the audience hushes, and Mark, an anxious film enthusiast, hurries onto the stage.
From there the audience is whisked away on a journey through the faith and foibles of a band of New Yorkers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Through song and dance “Rent” tackles real issues pervading New Yorkers’ lives in the 90s: the HIV and AIDS epidemic, LGBTQ+ struggles, homelessness, drug addiction and living in America.
Through the menagerie of scaffolding, songs like “I’ll Cover You,” shared between Angel, an NYC drag queen living with AIDS played by Luke Sewpersaud, and Tom Collins, a resident anarchist played by Erik Brevik, plaster the audience with smiles. In other scenes, characters like Mimi, a struggling addict and dancer played by Lauryn Zepeda, swing from ladders and strut atop tables in sexy song and dance numbers like “Out Tonight.”
The Byron theatre’s unique setup allows actors to utilize staircases and walkways throughout the theater and fully immerses the audience into life in the East Village, New York. A live band plays in the corner of the theater, creating a pulsing rhythm and energy that fills the room. The lights and sound shift for the scenes, either bathing the silver set in swirling lights or echoing the actor’s voices off the walls of the Byron Theater.
On Friday night’s performance, directed by Ashley Hamilton, eyes in the audience glistened as they mourned the loss of life to AIDS with the actors on stage. They triumphed and laughed as the New Yorkers protested in song and dance to preserve their buildings.
Rent, written by Jonathan Larson, first premiered in 1996, yet is still a poignant reminder of inequality and how humans love and live in spite of it. Although the play is set about 30 years in the past, the messages continue to endure.
The cast sings “Seasons of Love” at the beginning of the second act | Courtesy of dutheatredept Instagram via @rdgphoto_colorado.Rent questions the audience, “how do you measure a year in life” and urges them to act because there is “no day, but today.” It asks viewers to look at their life, loved ones, and communities, and choose to measure their days, their lives, in love.
Come see “Rent” at the Newman Center for performing arts this weekend, March 3-5. Tickets are available for purchase here.
