Redmond resident Zane Cimino will play Angel in the Seattle Children’s Theatre’s (SCT) Summer Season production of “RENT: School Edition” July 31-Aug. 2 in the Charlotte Martin Theatre.
Eastsiders may remember Cimino as Seymour in Lake Washington High School’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” He has played that role at SCT, as well.
The Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Rent” is loosely based on the Puccini opera “La Boheme.” It follows a year in the lives of seven friends in the 1980s, adopting a Bohemian lifestyle in New York City’s East Village — under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic.
“RENT: School Edition” has been modified for a younger audience, softening some language and eliminating one song (“Contact”) from the original show. Suggested age for the school edition is 13 and up.
We asked Cimino, who is 19, about his character in “RENT: School Edition” and why he thinks the show can be meaningful to suburban teens, especially when AIDS is not as much in the news as it was in the ’80s and ’90s.
Cimino described Angel as “a drummer by day and a drag queen by night.”
He said the character is “incredibly confident and it seems like he really encapsulates what the show is about, which is learning to love and live, even in the face of death. To him, life is a celebration and his goal is to live it to the fullest and to give that life to those who feel like they have to stop living because they’re positive (with HIV or AIDS).”
He believes that the show is “not just about AIDS, but about fighting for what you believe in, about friends and family. It’s about love and not being
afraid of it. It’s such a real story because the people in it are real people somewhere. … On the first day of rehearsal, we had a speaker from the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, which is an organization in Seattle that offers services to those infected with HIV or AIDS, come to talk to us about what it was like, and we got to ask questions … so from the get-go, we’ve understood that these songs and words were some people’s livelihoods … that this isn’t just a play, but history.”
Because he’s gay, Cimino’s personal history has included unpleasant encounters with some people who didn’t accept him.
“I think growing up, I always tried to be the funny kid and it worked out pretty well because I was obviously ‘different’ but I made people laugh, so I think it was easier to put aside our differences,” he explained. “It was only until high school that I ever really felt the effects of being gay and in a more rural area. … There was one time, though, in Kirkland, where I was walking back to my car at night and there were about three Kirkland ‘gangstas’ who started calling me names and using really harsh, derogatory words which turned into pushing and shoving which turned into a fight, and at that time, I wasn’t apt to protect myself and I got a good beating.”
Cimino spent a lot of time, in junior high and high school, in the Seattle-based group Diverse Harmony. “The official title would be ‘the nation’s first gay-straight alliance chorus,’ he added.
“A big help on the Eastside was Y.E.S. (Youth Eastside Services) and their meeting for queer youth, B-Glad, which I went to every so often,” he noted. “And I also had a queer counselor who worked for Y.E.S. and it was really easy to talk to her. Even though I didn’t do too much on the Eastside, just having gay or lesbian teachers at school was a big help. If they were ‘out,’ they were a positive, gay, adult role model and it made school a little less scary … although the term ‘that’s so gay’ is still very much prevalent in schools.”
Cimino currently attends Seattle Central Community College, where he is studying ASL (American Sign Language). He hopes to become a certified ASL interpreter. He has also considered becoming a taekwondo instructor.
“I’m a black belt and I’ve been doing it for about 12 years now at Hwang’s Taekwondo in Redmond and it’s been a part of my life for so long, I can’t ever imagine not doing it and love working with the kids. So I’ve got a few options for the future,” he said.
He’s also the youngest member of the Seattle Men’s Chorus and was thrilled to perform in a recent concert with Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds.
“She’s an icon …. it was amazing,” said Cimino.
Performances of SCT’s “RENT: School Edition” are at 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday, July 31-Aug. 2, with an additional 2 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday, Aug. 1. Tickets are $10. Call (206) 441-3322 or visit Seattle Children’s Theatre’s Web site.
