Behind the scenes of RENT

Directing:

Jesse Merz, MHCC theater artistic director, tackles many aspects of theater for “RENT”. Whether for dance, song, blocking, lighting or sets, he provides leadership and impact on them all.

Merz had an active hand in selecting the musical for this winter’s performance. “I think it was wise of us to pick something that would challenge all of us in a way we weren’t quiet sure how it would go, but I think it’s turning out really well,” he said.

The faculty members involved in “RENT” have production meetings every week to discuss the play’s details. But, beyond rehearsals and meetings, Merz said he is “constantly listening to the music and reading the script and making choices on blocking (planning for on stage positioning and movement).

The auditions were open both to MHCC students and community members. Once selected for the musical, cast and crew members could register to earn one to three school credits for the musical, at their choice.

“We love having a variety of people working on our shows,” said Merz. “It diversifies our cast. It gives us a wider range of ages and experiences. I think it improves the quality of our shows, but also it’s a part of our mission to be a community college, so therefore the fact that we do the show with our community makes a lot of sense to me.”

 

Singing:

“This is a beast of a show,” said musical director Kevin Lambert.

The musical consists of very little spoken dialogue and instead is almost totally music that Lambert was responsible for teaching the actors. Lambert describes the music as rock and “garage band”-like.

“It’s not like many other shows out there,” he said.

A five-piece band will be present on the stage during the show, consisting of Lambert and MHCC jazz band members Tyler Nelson, Jacob DeBoie, Nick Nera and Joey Boyer.

The band has been rehearsing twice a week, separate from the vocalists, while Lambert has been providing piano accompaniment for the vocalists. On Feb. 5, the actors had the opportunity to sing along with the band for the first time.

“This is a group of people who already believed in the message of the show and had already, at some point in their lives, experienced the power of the show,” Lambert said.

Actors’ challenges include being able to sing dialogue in time with the band while they hit their marks.

“I was pretty scared, pretty nervous and almost thought that people around here were crazy for choosing the production “RENT” to do for Jesse and (my) first show (together),” Lambert said.

Lambert plans to be the musical director for each winter musical, going forward.

 

Set Design:

“You could do theater without the technical and design part, but that’s the magic –and that’s me,” said technical director Daryl Harrison-Carson.

Harrison-Carson is responsible for lightning, sets and the production budget. MHCC student Eric Rakestraw is in charge of the sound design for “RENT”.

Merz and Harrison-Carson wanted to use the Broadway show and movie based on “RENT” as inspiration for the set, without copying it. A sculpture is used to portray several things in the show, such as a Christmas tree; she found inspiration for it from a geometric dome that had caught on fire.

A crew of about 15 students has been building the scenery, and there will be a backstage crew of six during the show. Chris Wilkerson, a MHCC student, is in charge of show props.

Some in crew have technical experience, but the job is mostly orienting them with how things are done at MHCC.

“Most of the kids know how to use a saw and stuff, but not necessarily make a piece of wood square,” Harrison-Carson said.

On the production side, there always is “RENT” actor using a microphone, which requires someone with a good handle on the sound board. There also will be 215 lighting changes called by the stage manager, Anthony Ceglie, during the show. For that chore, Harrison-Carson is glad to have help on hand.

“I’m in charge of everything, but I usually try to farm a couple things out,” she said.

 

Sound:

Second-year MHCC student and theater major Eric Rakestraw is the sound designer for “RENT.”

Rakestraw’s duties for the show include “putting together the layout for where speakers, microphones are going to go, finding the sound effects, and then going through and managing the set up of all the sound equipment and video equipment.”

Rakestraw has two students on his sound crew with him. He has nine years of sound experience and he worked on all of the shows last year either running sound or designing sound and lights.

Regarding challenges he has met during the show, Rakestraw said, “It’s been interesting, because up until recently the design team hasn’t been able to see the show full through up until Saturday. So it was seeing where everything is going to fit in and all that, but up until then, it was pretty straightforward.”

 

Choreography:

“Portland is a small theater community,” “RENT” choreographer Rebecca Frost Mayer said.

Frost Mayer is not an MHCC employee. But Merz knew of her, her resume and her history because of the small theater community, according to Frost Mayer.

“Since graduating (from college) this is the first college show I’ve worked on. I’ve done several high school and professional shows in the Portland area,” she said.

“I really enjoy working at a college. It’s similar working with high school students in that it’s educational theater. So I feel my role is largely as a teacher, in addition to my artistic role in the production and that’s something I really enjoy,” Frost Mayer said.

“I have a little more freedom to take on that role in working with college students as opposed to working in the professional theater. It’s a different setting and different expectations. I feel I’m allowed to facilitate more exploration with college students than I would in professional theater,” she said.

According to Frost Mayer, the choreography for this show is different than it would be for a musical that had traditional dancing in it. She said, “There’s only a couple of songs in ‘RENT’ that call for dance-type movement and a lot of it is just more staging, so I’m responsible for choreographing and staging many of the songs.”

Some of those songs she does on her own and some are collaboration with the director.

 

Costume Design:

The costume designer in charge of giving the actors the look of being a “RENT” character came armed with 30 years of experience in costume design.

“This show has a specific time frame, the late ‘80s, so basically it’s a shop show. You just find things that fit and put it together because there’s not enough money to build it (make the costumes) or time,” costume designer Marychris Mass said.

According to Mass, who has not previously worked on MHCC shows, most of the costumes were either left over from past shows or they were bought.

“Yes, he (the director) may have specific things he wants but this show is also dictated by the fact that it’s pretty fast paced,” she said.

Mass said there are many costume changes during the show, although “sometimes it’s just an accessory change or a ‘coat-on, coat-off’ change because there is not time (for a bigger change.)”