Desirée Dabney started as the new head of musical theatre at VCU last August and wanted to do something big and splashy as her directorial debut at the university. She had been thinking “Chicago” might be a good option for the spring production but, after a couple months in the classroom, she landed on “Rent” as the most appropriate vehicle for tapping into the depth her students were showing her.
“‘Rent’ can be done superficially,” Dabney says. “You’re going to sing ‘Seasons of Love’ and ‘I’ll Cover You’ and it’ll be just on the surface. But that’s not our style of acting here. We’re definitely into the more raw emotion.”
She also saw the opportunity for her students to learn about the recent past with a show that deals with contemporary issues but in a time before widespread use of the internet and cell phones.
“It’s set in the early ‘90s so it’s a period piece,” Dabney says. “I knew it was going to challenge us and that we were all going to have to learn some history. But on the first day of rehearsal, I knew it was the right choice: They came in silent and ready.”
“Rent” made a huge splash on Broadway when it opened in 1996 with its vivid depictions of artists in New York, its portrayal of gay relationships, and its story of the challenges of urban living and activism in the midst of the AIDS crisis. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama that year and ultimately ran for more than 12 years on Broadway.
Dabney says that creating the show together has provided the opportunity for a lot of cross-generational dialogue between faculty and students about topics both significant and trivial.
“Some things took [the students] for a loop because we have pagers and an old Nokia phone in the show and they were like, ‘what is this?’ ” she laughs. “They are definitely having fun making fun of us.”
“At the same time, talking to them about AIDS and talking to them about drugs, they were opening up and saying, ‘Hey, I’ve seen stuff like this just walking around Richmond.’ It’s interesting to hear their side and hear what’s happening today,” says Dabney.
Though the original production of “Rent” had two white men in the most prominent roles, Dabney says the nature of the show allowed her to cast a very diverse group of actors. “The great thing with a show like ‘Rent’ is that you can be untraditional,” she says. “These are just people living in these spaces and so for me as a director … whoever comes into the room and shows me they can do this show, they’re going to be in the show.”
The production will be a large one, with a cast of 25 and a three-story high set filling the stage at the Singleton Center, depicting the apartment building central to the show’s plot. “We are using every inch of that space,” Dabney says.
“Some of our professors were literally in New York working on Broadway when ‘Rent’ came out and I can’t wait for them to see what we’ve done,” she says. “I think some of the students are nervous and hoping we do it justice. But at the same time, I think that seeing ‘Rent’ come to life in a new generation, they’re also really excited.”
“Rent” will run at the Singleton Center for the Arts, 922 Park Ave. from April 21st to April 30th. Tickets are available at http://vcutheatre.showclix.com/.
