Students to perform "Rent" this fall

This November, students will perform the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock opera, "Rent," in the Alice Jepson Theatre.

Tickets for the show will go on sale Oct. 7 at the Modlin Center Box Office and the performances will be Thursday, Nov. 18, through Sunday, Nov. 21.

"It's going to be Jepson as nobody has seen it before," said Dorothy Holland, the performance's director. "There's going to be a total remaking of the space. We haven't done anything like this in seven or eight years."

Holland, who has been teaching and directing at the University of Richmond for 11 years, said she was highly confident in the behind-the-scenes team as well as the cast members.

"Not only can they sing, they can dance," she said. "They've got lots of potential, and they have the energy and the will-power."

Holland said that the theater and dance departments put on five main-stage shows each year, and that musicals happened every other year.

"Musicals are an adventure," she said. "Because they're big, they take a lot of resources and time. And, of course, we aspire to make them absolutely brilliant. It's an incredible journey."

The theater and dance departments select a play together, Holland said, and then the directors have to approve the play before it goes back to the faculty.

"Everyone has to believe in it and get excited about it, because everyone participates in every play," she said. "We chose 'Rent' because we wanted a play that was appropriate for the age group. It's contemporary and edgy, and the students have challenging and exciting roles."

Senior theater major Adam Ferguson, a member of the 14-student company, said he was excited about the magnitude of the show in all respects.

"'Rent' is well-known, there are a large number of people involved and it deals with some very important issues head-on," he said.

Ferguson said he was looking forward to seeing how Holland would take "Rent" to the next level, in terms of staging as well as subject matter.

"Dorothy could never just do 'Rent,'" he said. "The thing about the show is that it has deep issues that are somewhat sugar-coated, so it will be interesting to see how she pushes the envelope to make it truer to its content."

Ferguson, who has acted in at least one show per semester since his freshman year, said he loved the element of surprise that came with performing in front of an audience.

"With stage acting you get the immediate reaction," he said. "Things happen on stage and you just have to roll with the punches."

Holland, who shared Ferguson's sentiments, said, "The life of the piece is the connection between the live show and the live audience. They are celebrating, despairing and asking questions together."

Holland said she was excited about the large number of non-theater majors involved in the show.

"We've got all the schools covered," she said. "The cast includes students from the business school, the law school, leadership studies and the School of Continuing Studies."

Freshman Sam Abrahams will play Mark Cohen, the narrator of the show. Abrahams said he hadn't performed in a musical since he was in "Bye Bye Birdie" in eighth grade, but that music and singing had always been a big part of his life.

"Even in elementary school, I was the kid who actually sang along in class, not the one who was making fun of the teacher," he said.

Abrahams, who auditioned for "Rent" during his first couple of weeks at Richmond, said that he didn't let himself get intimidated by the fact that he was cast among seniors, graduate students and even an alumnus, Durron Tyre, who graduated in 2005.

"If I don't think about the fact that I'm younger, it doesn't affect me," he said. "I just tell myself to let go and put it all out there. Everyone's an equal on stage."

Abrahams said the cast recently had their first musical rehearsal all together with music director Jeffrey Riehl, associate professor of music and director of the University Choir and Schola Cantorum at Richmond.

"There was so much energy," Abrahams said. "Everyone was into it, and no one was afraid to sing out. It's a great feeling."

Contact staff writer Eliza Morse at eliza.morse@richmond.edu