By Lou Fancher For the Contra Costa Times
PITTSBURG -- In 2009, two seminal events occurred in Pittsburg: a $7.6 million renovation of architect A.W. Cornelius' historic downtown California Theatre was launched and Nick Garcia arrived to helm the Los Medanos College Department of Dramatic Arts.
The respective restorations -- repainted winged nymphs and other grand and substantive features of the former premiere venue and a robust theater department that has grown from smallest in the Contra Costa Community College District to the largest -- will be on full display when the award-winning Broadway musical "Rent" is presented in four performances, Dec. 3-6.
A joint production of LMC's drama department's Associate Students program, Pittsburg Arts & Community Foundation and Keller Canyon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning show premiered on Broadway in 1996 and ran for 12 years and 5,123 performances.
Playwright and composer Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical takes Puccini's 1830s Left Bank bohemians of "La Bohéme," and transforms them into late 20th-century East Village New York City artists.
Instead of tuberculosis, the contemporary characters struggle with AIDS, but on a broader scale, "Rent" rakes their lives with universal themes of love, loss, sexual identity, joy and hardship.
"The best thing is the message of love, power and acceptance," Garcia says. "It's about savoring the moment you have with people you love. We always take relationships for granted: Treasured moments can move away so fast, that's what the second act emphasizes."
Garcia chose the production because it reflects the diversity and talents of the roughly 60 students in the department.
Since his arrival as department chair, the program has grown from having no degree offered and what he calls "a few loose classes" to two degrees, multiple courses, four main stage productions per year, a weeklong new play festival and invitations to perform at national college festivals.
"Our students have fantastic voices and are ethnically diverse, but we also have straight, gay, transgender, veteran and novice actors, low-economic and middle-class students. The play brings all those groups together in an essential way," Garcia says.
One role, "Angel," demands unique skills and Garcia says casting Xavier Johnson was a terrific relief.
"He made the late rounds of a recent audition for "American Idol," he has depth of character, and he's an ex-gymnast -- he can do amazing acrobatics in high heels while singing," Garcia says, laughing, but dead serious about the talent he sees in the students.
Pittsburg Arts & Community Foundation Executive Director Joe Sibranti said that presenting the play fulfills the foundation's overall mission to expose Pittsburg residents to the arts.
