ALLENTOWN: ‘Rent’ control necessary, seamless

by Kyle Moylan, Sports Editor
   Only 525,600 minutes to go before Allentown High School holds its next school play.
   Bet there are a lot of parents out there wondering what’s coming next.
   After more than 5,000 performances, the play “Rent” closed on Broadway in September. When it then became available for independent productions, Allentown High became one of the first schools in the country to take on the material.
   For some in the community who felt this was not a play that should be done by high school students, Mark Megill had a taped message available on the school’s Web site. Mr. Megill, choral director and theater arts teacher at the high school, also made himself available for questions from the community before each of the three performances of the play last week.
   As he noted on the Web site, this is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. It touches on universal themes such as friendship, dealing with loss and making sacrifices for the sake of art.
   ”Rent” also deals with the very serious issues of drug use and homosexuality. The play neither condemns or endorses either, merely showing they are part of the world in which we all live.
   Another part of the play is the undeniable impact it has had on people. It had one of the most loyal followings in Broadway history. People began to sleep on the streets overnight in order to get cheap tickets and see the play hundreds of times. I also have heard several individuals who were dealing with their sexuality credit the play with saving their lives, guiding them away from suicide when they saw characters they could identify with.
   Why do “Rent?” It moves people. It addresses issues that otherwise would largely be ignored.
   The question isn’t really whether “Rent” should be done by a high school, but more about whether the play could be adjusted to be done by individuals so young.
   I have seen the movie and the Broadway production. It showed men and women kissing individuals of their own gender. It showed explicit drug use, along with the dire consequences. Half of the main eight characters are HIV-positive. I wondered if this was an appropriate play for my pre-teen nephews. I also was more than a little curious how this would play as a high school production.
   While parts needed to be edited for a high school, the core themes of “Rent” had to remain, in order to make it a play worth doing. The key was to approach the play with a scalpel rather than a hatchet.
   Brief nudity and a very suggestive orgy scene were eliminated. All of the profanity was removed so smoothly and carefully, it was often hard to remember where it was.
   More obvious was the physical nature of the sexuality. While Roger and Mimi kissed, neither the female lovers nor the male lovers did likewise. Then again, not many high school productions of “Miss Saigon” are going to land a helicopter on the stage. Inevitable changes will be made from a Broadway to a high school production.
   According to Mr. Megill, he hoped the larger themes of the play could promote dialogue between parents and their children. Rather than dismiss the play because of its themes, he said he thought it was better to discuss why “Rent” was written to address those subjects in the first place.
   There are about 525,595 minutes to do that before Allentown High’s next play.
Kyle Moylan is the sports editor of the Messenger-Press. He can reached at [email protected].