The 2010 Acting Apprentices & Technical Interns of Flat Rock Playhouse will present the Broadway musical smash hit Rent onstage for four performances in August. In 1996, the rock musical, with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, quickly went from a small off-Broadway theater to becoming the seventh longest- running show in Broadway history.

Loosely based on Puccini’s opera, La Bohème, Rent tells a story of a group of impoverished young artists, musicians, and dancers struggling under the shadow of HIV/AIDS to get by in New York City’s once-grungy East Village in the mid-1980s. Rent is onstage August 2–3 and August 9–10 with performances both weeks at 8 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays. Tickets are $20.

Also this month at Flat Rock Playhouse

Running through August 15 is Mel Brooks’ The Producers in which out-of-luck Broadway producer Max Bialystock has a can’t-miss plan. He wants to raise enough money for a show that will close in one night, reasoning that he can make more from a flop than a hit. What follows is an outrageously funny tale where he and mild-mannered accountant Leo Bloom attempt to make a fortune by producing a surefire bomb. Tickets are $40 (there is a $4 discount for seniors and a $10 discount for students).

Starting August 19 and running through September 12, Flat Rock Playhouse will present 39 Steps, Broadway’s longest-running comedy thriller (think a Hitch- cock masterpiece combined with a juicy spy novel with an added dash of Monty Python). The production will feature a cast of four, including Flat Rock Playhouse’s own Scott Treadway who will play more than 150 characters in this story about an ordinary man on an extraordinary adventure. Tickets are $34 (there is a $4 discount for seniors and a $10 discount for students).

Flat Rock Playhouse is located at 2661 Greenville Highway in Flat Rock. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Playhouse box office at 693.0731 (toll-free at 866.732.8008) or at flatrockplayhouse.org.
The Cast of Rent (Photo by Joe Bester)