Local teen tackles tough issues in ‘RENT: School Edition’ starting Friday
July 30, 2009
By Chantelle Lusebrink
NEW — Noon, July 29, 2009
Local teen Andrew Lee, 15, of Newcastle, is stepping out and tackling tough issues in Seattle Children’s Theatre’s “RENT: School Edition.”
Every summer, the theater’s professionals step aside to make room for aspiring young actors, directors and musicians on the stage.
Andrew has been acting for some time, but it is the first time he has performed with SCT.
“I love to sing and I’ve been doing it since choir in fifth grade, but I guess it just transformed into theater,” he said.
Andrew Lee
The show does censor some language used in the original production of “RENT,” but doesn’t shy away from tackling the tough issues the show is intended to examine, like prostitution, drugs, gay and lesbian issues, and AIDS.
Like the original production, it follows a group of seven artists and friends in New York’s East Village trying to find their way in a world newly mired in AIDS.
Andrew plays a man battling AIDS.
“My first character’s name is Gordon,” Andrew said. “In the show, I’m at a support group and he is someone that doesn’t understand the full concept of AIDS.
“He is confused that the doctor told him he’d die three years ago, but he hasn’t and he doesn’t know how to live life, because he is living in fear.”
It is one of the first acting roles Andrew has been cast in, though he’s performed at several other local theaters in a chorus.
Andrew said he’d been a fan of the original production for some time and he has seen it several times live and the film of the final show on Broadway.
He said he isn’t shocked by the show’s content, because it deals with subjects children and teens already know about — either firsthand, in school or through the media.
“It is very real, nothing is sugar coated,” Andrew said. “It really shows the trials of what Jonathan Larson was going through at the time.
“I think the only reason some may find it controversial is that they don’t understand that teenagers are already aware of the material in ‘RENT,’” he added. “It’s not surprising to us, but people think we don’t know.”
He said his parents were very supportive of his decision to work on the production, because they know he is mature enough to work with the content.
Kristen Culp choreographs the show and Orlando Morales and RJ Tancioco provide musical direction for the musical written by Larson.
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If you go
‘RENT: School Edition’
7 p.m. July 31-Aug. 2
2 p.m. Aug. 1
Seattle Children’s Theatre
201 Thomas St., Seattle
$10
206-441-3322 or www.sct.org
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