An actor walks on to the stage and the audience falls to a deafening hush. The character, Mark, opens the play by describing
Christmas in New York. Suddenly, the lights fall to a sudden darkness and the orchestra pit begins with a booming drumbeat. Last night, Illinois State University hosted the touring broadway company of “Rent” presented by Newspace Entertainment. Rent, for those who do not know, is a story centering around seven young adults living in an ecletic and poor neighborhood in New York City. They are struggling artists–actors, film makers, musicians–dealing with the devastation of one central issue: AIDS. The main characters in the play are Mark (a film maker), Roger ( a musician recently inflicted by the AIDS virus), Mimi (a drug addict with AIDS), Maureen (performance artist who, after dating Mark, became a lesbian), Joanne (a lawyer and Maureen’s girlfriend), Tom B. Collins, and Angel( a crossdresser who is in love with Tom B. collins but is also afflicted with AIDS). Rent is a beautifully written musical that portrays the struggles of the young characters, but also exhibits the love and family atmosphere they create for themselves within their group of friends. My favorite character in the show defenitley was Mimi. The woman who played this role had one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard in my life. Her vocal talents could not be surpassed be anyone in my opinion. However, my facorite part of the show had to be the lyrics to the songs. One particularly great example of this is the full company’s song, “Seasons of Love”: “525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes – how do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes – how do you measure a year in the life?How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love. Seasons of love.” This song, the most well known from the show, offers listeners a positive way to look at every minute that passes in a year and to truly value the importance of each moment. The language of this example deepens my reasoning for why I love theater and becoming an English major. Theater is my greatest passion and it allows me to interpret language to the way I understand it. This is why I chose to pursue English on the collegiate level: I learned to find the meaning of what I was saying through theater because I had to help an audience understand. Through this, I began to become more considerate of language in everyday life and in every book I read or word I write. By being an English major, my studies enable me to become more and more conscientious of the language I use everyday.Just as theater sparked my passion to study English, English will undoubtedly help me to further convey the right messages in my personal theatrical endeavors and to understand the messages of the productions I am watching.
-mollysheehan
