i wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that my blog will be out of commission for an undetermined amount of time. i have quit my job at the theatre and i don't have internet set up in my house yet. we have just been lazy and haven't set it up yet but we should have internet within the week so i should be back on track soon.
so. why, you may be asking, do you have the original Rent poster on this blog? what does that musical have to do with you quiting your job? everything, says i.
Rent is one of those every special shows that actually opened my sr year of high school. i immediately fell in love with it. i bought the soundtrack, the show book, the sheet music, a couple of t-shirts, some postcards and have spent more money on tickets to various performances than should be allowed. you see, jonathan larson (the brilliant mind behind the show) died of a heart aneurysm after the final dress rehearsal in his apartment. it was past midnight; technically, it was the day of the show. he would never see his baby open on the great white way. about that same time, my grandfather died of a heart aneurysm. i just simply felt connected to the show on a very personal level.
it was also a watershed moment in my development as an adult. i was raised in a very religious household. looking back i am very grateful to have been sheltered (in a way) and given the chance to remain a kid a little bit longer. i had great friends in my church and was generally safe from drugs, booze and sex. there is a time and place for all things and i firmly believe that is called college. but because i was so sheltered, i naively thought that the church was the be all, end all to any and everything. this show (and rocky horror show) opened my eyes to a totally different sort of people. people that i could identify with and felt more at home with. and i thank shows like rent that help people like me come out of their shell.
so anyway, i love rent. i have seen it enough times that i have lost track on how many time i have actually seen it. i have met and hung out with original cast members and have had the great good fortune to see them perform on stage in the show that changed broadway forever.
again, i hear you asking... "what does all this have to do with quitting your job?" hold your horses, i'm getting to that.
so rent is on tour again. and it is coming to the theatre that i work at (for now at least). as far as i can see, there have been no disclaimers on the show. this is the same theatre that will put a disclaimer that there is a strobe light used in a show but hasn't had any for rent. for you unenlightened few who are unfamiliar with Rent, it is the opera La Boheme set in late 90's new york city with lots of rock music. there is pretty explicit language from the get go and there are to gay couples. now, me, i don't care one jot about any of that. it's a fun musical and i cry most of the 2nd act and i love it. but for a elderly resort community that the average age is 65... weeelll, they kinda don't like stuff like that. so when i sell tickets to Rent, i ask, "are you familiar with the show?" if they say yes then i proceed, business as usual. but if they don't, i tell them that there is language, rock music and adult situations. if they want to know what the adult situations are, i say that there are homosexual relationships. that's all i say. usually the customer will proceed with the order or they will confess that the show doesn't sound like their cup of tea. so i try to sell them something else. 9 times out of 10, i get the customer to purchase something. well my supervisor overheard me giving the disclaimer to a customer (which i have been doing since the tickets went on sale in september) and went completely apeshit. she started shouting at me saying that i wasn't the morality police and that i had no right telling people that there was homosexuality in the show and that it isn't any of my business and all sorts of things. then she gets the rest of the box office involved and it turned into an attack on me. to be heard over my supervisor, i shouted "IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT I SAY, THEN TELL ME TO STOP. AND THEN DROP IT!" then i stormed out of the office slamming every door that was unfortunate to cross my path. i was so upset that night after work, that i spent most of the night in tears and made myself physically ill the next day. even now, more than a week after the event, i am really pissed.
all of that happened on a wednesday. the following monday, i wrote a resignation letter (while at work) and delivered it to my boss. she was very understanding in my desire to leave, although she is under the impression that i'm solely leaving because the ringling college is giving me more hours. i did tell her about the altercation in the box office and she (of course) sided with the supervisor. so all in all after all of this happened, today is my last day. and yes, i'll be taking on more hours at the school so there will be no worries as to my fiances. i just thought that y'all should know.
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