This Plays her thing: Manapalan 'Rent' fan invites cast to visit her school.

Published in the community section of the Asbury Park Press

By, Courtenay Harris
Staff Writer

Samantha Gutterman has seen Rent more than 70 times'.

A junior at Manapalan High School , Gutterman says she obsessed with the show.  And she's sharing her enthusiasm with her classmates.

When four cast members from 'Rent' came to talk to students at her school at Gutterman's request, squeals and claps filled the auditorium. 

"I'm like- AHH- I'm so excited! I can't sit still!"said Melanie Ostrowitz, a senior, who is planning to see Rent for her third time.

"'Rent' is just like everyday people", said Gutterman before the talk.  "At Rent they make you feel like you can be yourself."

One of the hottest shows of the 90's, 'Rent'-- loosely based on the opera La Boheme-- tells the tale of a group of disenfranchised people on the lower East Side of Manhattan, some of them dying from AIDS.

Gutterman describes herself as one of the many "Rent Heads"-- who flock to the theater over and over, and wait outside the theater to meet the cast.

She has seen the musical so many times that she has gotten to know several of the cast members personally, including Mark Setlock, who plays Gordon.

In fact, he is writing Gutterman a college reconmendation and agreed to round up a few other cast members on a recent Monday, their day off, to talk to students at Manapalan High School.

Twisting in their seats and bursting into applause every few minutes, drama and music students shot question after question at Setlock, and fellow cast members, Jim Poulos, who plays Mark, Jacques Smith, who plays Benny, and Darryl Ordell, who plays Paul. 

"Do you have any advice about auditioning?"a student asked.

"They used to tell me to dress up," Ordell said, "But I found if I dress however I feel that morning, that works for me."

Another student asked how they felt when they heard they made it in the cast.

"I cried like a baby becase it was a fufulling dream," Smith says.

Gutterman, who hopes to get into a performing arts college, said the cast members have been very encouraging to her about pursing an acting career.

"They're just so supportive," she said. "They tell you about perseverance and following your dream."

But the actors were also frank about discussing the rejection they had suffered before making it into Rent.

"You get told 'no' a lot," Smith said.  "But that is based on several criteria, most of which you have no control over."

And the cast members were honest about their fears about the future.

"God forbid, 'Rent' closes, then we're unemployed actors again," Ordell said.

This sort of frankness about life, and about young people in trouble, is what draws so many teans and 20-something's to the show over and over, Setlock said.

And those fans, "Rent-heads" like Gutterman, help keep the cast going during their eight performances a week, the actors said.

"They're like part of the family," Setlock said.



Source: Asbury Park Press

Published: March 24th, 1999

Manapalan High School Junior, Samantha Gutterman with 'Rent' cast members (from left) Mark Setlock, Jim Poulos, Darryl Ordell, and Jacques Smith.

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